Our Realm
by Sirana
Summary: When your parents warn you about meeting people over the internet, they mean it. Who knows, the sweet guy you've been flirting with via MMORPG chat might just be a jerk in real life! That's what happened to me, a cute and kind guy I met in an MMORPG was actually a baka I knew in real life! Awkward. Oh, and my friend is head over heels for his twin brother. That complicates stuff.
1. Hi There!

**So I've realized that since it's summer, I'm really on top of my current, in progress fic so I decided to upload this one, a fic I've been working since the end of my first Ouran fic (beginning of this year). Just a quick notice that when the text is underlined, that means Rowan is in the game, bold usually indicates POV change (as usual), and italics indicate thinking (duh). So with that out of the way, please enjoy, I hope I can keep my word and manage two fics at once!**

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'Sup, the name's Rowan. Rowan Keith to be exact. I'm something that most people would call a 'ginger' or a 'ginge' (short for ginger) which basically means I have long, red hair. I'm also notoriously known as 'Freckle Face' at school for my abnormal amount of freckles dotting my face. But who cares about the bullies at school, right? I've lived with them for ten years so I don't give a frig about what they say! I have my friends that support me, tell me I'm pretty, and always point out my sparkling, blue eyes. So my life really doesn't suck as one might think and besides, the bullies at school will be working for me one day anyway! I live in southern California and not in a rich subdivision either. I live in a place that has drug dealers at night and crazy people after dark on weekends. I suppose I should get down to what this story is about, shouldn't I? Well it's about my trip over the Pacific Ocean and into a world I never would've thought existed. It all started when I was eleven: when I discovered this EPIC MMORPG call Realmz and when I found it, I fell in love.

The game lets you do whatever the hell you want with bunches of different races, endless variations of mounts, different factions, countless emotes, your own customizable house, infinite pets, and so much more! I started out with a simple wolf humanoid character and named her Kazuli or as I liked to call her: Kaz. Kaz had dark grey fur that was almost blue, yellow eyes, a foxy tail, and dual daggers. She was one of those characters you would cringe at when she snuck up behind you and took you out just when you were winning your PVP match. When my adventure began, I was sixteen so I had five years to level Kaz up to the best she could be and I could beat just about anyone in the PVP arena. Almost everyone. One cold December night, I logged on to vent some of my anger on PVP and joined a ladder tournament. Right away, I was absorbed into the game and began my first match of the night.

"Let's do this!" I said, pulling out my dual daggers and giving my opponent an intimidating glare.

The German Shepard humanoid looked very nervous as he pulled out his axe and took a fighting stance. Just as he took a paw-step forward, I entered my sneak mode on and made a bee-line straight for him.

"Gotcha!" he said as he blocked my sneak attack.

"Not quite!" I said as my daggers broke through his defense and slashed him through the middle.

I watched in pride as his HP was diminished by almost half. My two black daggers were so leveled out, I was surprised the moderators hadn't told me to stop leveling them because they were so strong!

I mashed away at the keyboard, hitting him with all kinds of combo moves and dashing away when he tried to take a swing at me. He went down in under two minutes and the others after him met the same fate.

I put a health potion to my snout before the final round began which was a peculiar one.

As I studied over the stats of my last opponent, I was very shocked! His armor rating was beyond anything I had ever seen and his bow and arrow could deal more damage than my daggers! I had never seen another player like this before and I was a little nervous that my reputation might be ruined but I just shrugged anyway and went for it.

We spawned on opposite sides of the arena and I was able to get a good look at him. He was a maroon, lizard humanoid who went by the name of Urakih and he was decked out in some pretty sweet gear! It was the kind of stuff that you would pay the game to get extra accessories, black wings, fangs, devil horns, and a devil tail. When the countdown for us to begin ended, his reptilian feet sped towards me at a faster speed than mine! He shot an arrow that I dodged by a hair then jumped up and released a folly of them! That I couldn't get away from and it took a hardy bite out of my HP. After he landed, I rushed at him and used the strongest skill I knew but it barely did anything!

"Oh wow…" I mumbled as I clicked to dodge another arrow.

"Agh!" I shrieked as an arrow hit me, taking out more HP.

In desperation, I threw both of my daggers which somehow managed to hit him and come back to my paws. We went on, fighting for ten, twenty, thirty minutes!

"I have not had a good fight like this in ages!" I smiled as I hit away at my keyboard.

Things were getting tense and Kazuli's HP was dropping as well as Urakih's. I flinched every time I got hit and smirked every time I hit him, feeling my muscles tensing up by the second.

"Come on, come on, come on!" I pleaded with the game as I jumped up and tried to bring my daggers down on him to finish the match.

I was so close to slashing his lizard head in three when he whipped out an arrow faster than expect and shot it straight through my stomach! That sent me flying and when I fell, I didn't get back up.

"Oh, darn!" I pouted but still felt very satisfied!

It had been almost a year since someone could match my skills, let alone beat me! As I exited the arena, chugging as many potions as I could, a whisper showed up in my chat box.

**Urakih whispered: You're really good!**

I was taken aback by this a little. Most people played MMORPGs and got frustrated when the lost or rubbed it in the face of the loser! I thought I was the only one on the mega-server to be nice to people even if they beat me, because to me, it was just a game: a game not worth getting worked up about. So I typed back, '**Thanks!**' Then a little notice popped up on my screen that said: 'Urakih has sent you a friend request. Do you accept?'

Of course I clicked yes! I didn't actually have any friends in the game because they unfriended me when they knew they couldn't beat me anymore! It just warmed my heart to see that someone wanted to friend me without pouting that my character was over-powered! His name appeared on my empty-looking friend list and I spun around in my swivel chair with joy!

**Urakih whispered: Hey, do you want to try that new dungeon's hell mode? **

**Kazuli whispered: Are you sure, that one's really hard, even for me!**

**Urakih whispered: I know but since we're both experts, I'm sure it'll be easy!**

**Kazuli whispered: Um ok.**

And we were off! I met up with the same lizard that had just sliced me up a few minutes ago and was now going on an epic adventure with him! Yay! We totally killed that dungeon and the loot was worth it!

"Don't you want any?" I asked as I scooped up gold from the chest.

"Nah," he said, flicking his tail, "I've got more than enough gold. By the way, if you're such a strong player than why don't you look it?"

"Huh?" I snarled.

"It's just that most high-ranking players pay money to get cool armor like mine. I didn't know there were tough people without special armor," he explained.

"Oh," I sighed, "I just don't want to have to pay extra money to look good."

"Why not?" he asked, "You'll look more intimidating."

"Hold on," I said as I threw a dagger, killing a skeleton, then catching it as it flew back to me, "Well I guess I don't want to really,"

"Meh, ok," Urakih shrugged and continued our quest.

"That was righteous!" I howled as we walked out of the dungeon, "I've never cleared that place on hell mode so fast before!"

"Me neither," Urakih smirked, "You're a great partner,"

"Really? Thanks!" I chirped as I added a skip to my step, "You're awesome too! No one's been able to keep up with me in a dungeon like you! How come I've never seen you around before?"

"I actually don't log on very often," Urakih sighed as he put his arms behind his back, "I quit the game about two years back when I realized that the game was boring if no one could rival me. It's just that if I get bored of something, I ditch it. I only logged on this morning because I was so bored."

"But now I think this game just got a whole lot more interesting," he said, giving me a sly look.

I rolled my eyes then realized something.

"Hey, you mean it's morning where you are?" I asked, stopping in my tracks.

"Yeah," Urakih said, stopping too, "Does this mean we're on different sides of the world?"

"I guess so," I shrugged, "That's cool!"

"So what country are you in?"

"Don' be a stalker! Haha!"

"I wasn't, I wasn't. Just curious,"

"ROWAN, TIME FOR DINNER!" a voice yelled from downstairs and waking me from my fantasy land.

"Oh shoot!" I yelped, "I have to go! When are you usually on?"

"Days off, breaks, Fridays," he said, "the usual,"

"Ok then, Urakih, bye!" I said, waving and disappearing from the server.

And it was on that day of my sophomore year that everything changed.

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**Tell me what you think and if you have any suspicions about Urakih, try to avoid posting about your thoughts on who he is in the reviews just in case you spoil it for someone else. Thank you so much for reading this far, I love you ALL! I would've quit writing long ago if it weren't for you amazing ppl!**


	2. A Day in my Life

**Welcome to Rowan's miserable life! Thanks for all the support, favs, follows, and reviews!**

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Welcome to a little chapter about my school life. In summary: it sucks. However, I've gotten quite used to the locker graffiti, book dumping, name calling, and eraser throwing that I really don't care anymore. The morning after meeting my Realmz friend began as usual. I walked in, blaring dubstep in my ears with my skull headphones and was shoved rudely against a locker by some female dogs.

"Watch it, Freckle Face!" one of them called as the galloped off like lemmings.

I just rolled my eyes and continued to my locker. I tore off the 'Freckle Face' sign that had been taped to it as if it were nothing, then continued to swap my books for the day. When I shut my locker, I was met with my friend's face: Kadence. Kadence and I were practically sisters and we even considered ourselves honorary sisters! Kadence's family really didn't look out for her too much so she often relied on my family and was at our house almost every day of the week. Let's see, her brother was a high school dropout who did God knows what, her mom left when she was seven, and her dad would just leave some nights and not come home until the next week (plus he was barely sober)! I was surprised Kadence hadn't followed in their footsteps but she was determined to stay clean of a bad reputation like her brother.

She also had skull headphones like me but had black hair that was parted like Skrillex's and wore bulky hipster glasses.

"'Sup!" we said simultaneously as we always did.

We always smiled at our greeting because it feels good to talk in sync with someone else. At the same time, we removed our headphones and left them around our necks. Our first class was math which was my least favorite in the world as well as Kadence's. As we walked, my honorary sister struck up conversation.

"You're never going to guess who's coming over to stay for the next few weeks," she groaned.

"Who?" I asked.

"My _brother,_" she said with disgust.

"But I thought he was living with his girlfriend!" I gasped in disbelief.

"So did I!" she complained, "But apparently she's having her parents over or something and she doesn't want them to find out that she's living with her boyfriend so she's kicking him out for a few weeks."

Just then, a few guys pushed past us and called 'Boohoohoo!' This was kind of a thing they did to Kadence that made fun of the fact that she always looked emo and depressed when in actuality, she had an amazing laugh. Kadence just shot them a glare and continued walking.

"Whatever. So you'll let me stay with you right? I can just move in," she asked desperately.

"Sure, I'll just ask my parents," I shrugged.

We sat together in math class, bored out of our skulls by the strange blurb of numbers on the board as girls in the back threw chunks of erasers at us for entertainment.

"I am so bored," Kadence whispered, not phased when another eraser plunked off her head.

"Do you even know what she's going on about?" I asked about the math teacher.

"Nope. Don't care," she said bluntly and pulled out her phone to check Tumblr.

For the rest of the lesson, we learned more about the Doctor Who fandom than math and we left the class, thankful that the torture was over. Unfortunately, I had to depart with Kadence for the next period but I wasn't entirely alone! During French class, I had my friend Winston with me. We had known each other since preschool and had been friends ever since but don't get me wrong, we didn't have a thing going on! Being in love with him would like being in love with my cousin. Not to mention, he wasn't at all attractive (No offense, Winston)! He was the kind of guy that was beat up after school for being so smart in every subject; the skinny guy with overalls, a boy tie, and glasses with tape in the middle of them. However, he fit right in with Kadence and I since we were already misfits, and together we made the awkward group of school freaks! Hooray!

"Bonjour, Rowan!" he said as I took a seat next to him.

"Bonjour, Winston," I replied with a smile, "Comment allez-vous?"

"Bonne," he smiled back.

"How was the Mathlete competition, did you win?" I asked as I pulled out my French homework.

"Just by a hair," he said, "I almost forgot the formula for the last question but I remembered at the last second!"

"Cool," I said as the teacher walked in and began the lesson.

French was one of my better subjects so I actually paid attention in the class.

"Au revoir!" I called to Winston as I left French.

I stumbled into the science lab after being jostled by some popular girls and I took a seat, reuniting with Kadence.

"How was French?" she asked, fixing her hair.

"Good!" I said, "How was music theory class?"

"Rocking sweet, as usual," she smirked.

The two of us hunched over our phones all of class, reading Fanfics and sputtering when we were called on. Finally lunch rolled around and we skipped off together. The food at my school's decent, if you're a grease hound. From the chicken to the vegetables: everything is layered with grease and even the tables seemed to have infinite layers on them! Winston, Kadence, and I all sat in a corner of the lunch room that was very undesirable and most people kept their distance from it for a number of reasons. It was right next to where all the druggies smoked so there was a scent of smoke, it leaked when it rained, it was hot during the summer, and cold during the winter.

I forgot my hoodie in my locker that morning so I was forced to hug Kadence's black one throughout lunch from the chilly, winter wind. We all talked about our weird fandoms as usual and Winston attempted to help us with our math homework but it was all in vain.

Three classes and an hour of hiding from bullies later, school let out and I was free to go. I drove Kadence home then came up to my small house. I unlocked the door and as soon as I stepped in, my parents were awkwardly awaiting my arrival. I just stood there confused at the serious looks on their face and it made me nervous.

"Have a seat, honey," my mom said, gesturing to the sofa.

"Ok…" I said warily, dropping my book bag and taking a seat.

My parents sat across from me and looked at me again which made me uncomfortable.

"Did I do something wrong?" I asked nervously.

"No, you're father and I would like to discuss something with you," my mom said.

"…Which is?" I asked awkwardly.

"You remember Aunt Cindy, right?" my dad asked which lightened the whole mood!

"Oh yeah!" I chirped, "You mean your super rich, lawyer sister? I love her so much, what's up with her?"

"She just moved to Japan," my mom said.

"Really? Oh that's right, she was talking about that to me at our last family reunion!" I thought aloud.

"Well she's offered to have you move in with her a few weeks from now and go to school there," my dad said excitedly.

"Seriously?!" I squealed, "That's so cool! I've never been to another country before!"

"She already has all your forms for school there filled out and everything so all she needs is your approval," my mom added.

"Sign me up!" I exclaimed.

"Ugh…I don't want to go to Japan," I groaned.

Only an hour later, after reading all the details for my trip, I already hated the idea.

"What is it, Rowan?" my mom asked as she took a seat across from me.

"You never said anything about the school looking like THIS!" I said, thrusting a picture of the school at her face, "Ouran Academy is WAY too big to be called a school, not to mention they only accept rich kids!"

"Your aunt has everything paid already. She's very eager for her favorite niece to experience a new culture and…" my mom began to explain.

"No you don't get it!" I interrupted her, "I'm used to a public school where you pay nothing to take pointless classes and get bullied. But if I go to a rich school, not only will I be bullied for the usual stuff, but also for being poor and not knowing the first thing about being rich! Besides, the uniform for girls is ghastly…"

"I know you're nervous, hun," my mom said, giving my hand a squeeze, "But another reason your aunt gave you this opportunity was because she heard about your bully problem and thought you might want a break. Won't you at least give it a few days of thought?"

"Maybe…" I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose, "Besides, I'll have to learn Japanese, get through an airport for the first time, FLY for the first time…oh God, now that will be scary!"

That night, as I lay in bed, I gave my trip a lot of thought.

_Pros: I get a fresh start at a new school, I get to travel internationally which I may never get another chance to do, and I get bragging rights_

_ Cons: I'd have to learn Japanese in a few weeks' time, I'd have to go to school with snobs, I'd have to learn proper etiquette for being around rich kids, and I'd have to leave my friends behind…Oh wait…KADENCE!_

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**R+R, hope this was a nice establishing chapter!**


	3. Here I Come!

**Yall have been so nice with your reviews so I decided to treat you to yet ANOTHER chapter. I've also realized that I've been forgetting to do my first time reviewer shout outs. If you're new to my stories and don't know what those are, if you review a story for the first time, I give you a shout out. I have a quite a few to do because of all your supportive feedback and I forgot to last chapter.**

**So shout out to, CathieeTerriea, scoobycandy, Guest, MysticxHope, Anonymous, Cyan Rubies, 0 . o, ASiriusWriter01, and Izaria (she's been a faithful reviewer on my other OHSHC! Luv u!)**

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Half-chewed pretzels fell from Kadence's mouth as her jaw dropped open in shock. Winston looked over at me with an impressed look on his face but Kadence just stared on at me from under her black hoodie like I had a spider on my face.

"You WHAT?!" Kadence shrieked, "You got an offer to go to SCHOOL in JAPAN!? And you said NO!?"

"No, no!" I corrected her, "I said I would _think _about it. I never said I wouldn't go. However I highly doubt I'll end up going. Not many people in our city end up ever leaving the country anyway."

"B-but, you're going to…JAPAN!" Kadence shrieked again, "That's like the best thing ever! JAPAN!"

"Japan without _you_," I corrected her again, "I can't leave you while your creepy brother is at home!"

"I'll just stay at your parents' house!" Kadence shrugged, "It'll be fine!"

"It just doesn't feel right to leave you alone…" I mumbled.

"I don't want to drag you down, Rowan," Kadence said sincerely with her big, brown eyes pleading innocence.

"You should seize this opportunity," Winston said, "This may be the only chance you'll ever go to Japan,"

"Thanks. Maybe I should…it just doesn't feel right…" I mumbled, picking at my fries.

"Absolutely not!" my father exclaimed.

"But I can't just leave her all alone! Kadence has never had to put up with bullies without me and I'm worried about what might happen to her when I'm gone for a semester!" I pleaded as I followed him around the kitchen.

"My sister has graciously offered to give you a fun semester in Japan, all expenses paid," my father said sternly as he threw some pasta in boiling water, "and now you want to impose on her by inviting your friend along with you?!"

"I know it seems selfish but isn't Aunt Cindy really rich anyway?" I asked.

"Never look a gift horse in the mouth, young lady," was all my father said then refused to answer any more questions.

Instead, I stormed off to my room, logged onto my email account, and began a letter to Aunt Cindy.

_'Dear Aunt Cindy,_

_ Hey there! I haven't seen you in forever! When was the last time we saw each other? Wasn't it the last family reunion? That was such a long time ago and I missed you ever since. How's your law firm going? Winning lots of cases? Anyways, I'm so excited to visit your place in Japan but I have a slight dilemma. You see, I have this friend who's bullied a lot at school and I'm afraid she'll get ripped to pieces without me there, not to mention she doesn't have any sober family to go to. I was wonder, just go with me here, you could have her come along with me. You seriously don't have to if you don't want to but if you could, that would make my trip so much easier! I've tried asking my parents but you know how stubborn they can be, so I decided to just ask you instead. Tell me what you think!_

_Love you lots,_

_ Rowan'_

With that, I hit send then played my favorite game of all time: Realmz!

My wolfish body materialized in the main city of the game and I immediately went to check my mailbox. I sifted through 'log in prizes' and awards for winning so many arena fights when I came across one that had a VERY interesting gift! I jabbed my paw in the mailbox and pulled out some amazing wings! I threw them on my back and started hovering right away! They were steam punk mechanical ones and they were the kind that you had to pay the game at least twenty dollars to get! As I hovered in the air, I opened the letter which was written in nice cursive.

'For an adventurer who deserves to look more intimidating'

It was signed by Urakih! He had remembered!

"I've got mechanical wings!" I howled in the main town square, making elves and bird humanoids alike look at me strangely.

"I see you got my letter," a familiar voice perked up.

I looked down to see Urakih flying up to me with his own black, bat wings.

"Yes! Thank you so much! I've always wanted a pair of these!" I yipped, hugging him tightly.

"Heh, no problem," he said, getting stares from others from a wolf girl hugging him, "So, did you want to go do a two versus two mode in the arena?"

"Sure!" I said, letting go of him.

The two of us kicked some serious butt against two humans that challenged us but towards the end, I got separated from Urakih and his opponent and was left with my own.

"I have you now!" I yelled as I appeared from behind the man with a dagger to his throat.

Just then, an arrow came whizzing into man's chest, knocking him out before I even had a chance to kill him! I turned to see Urakih who was smiling slyly.

"No fair…that was my kill," I mock pouted.

"What can I say? You were taking too long," Urakih joked, flicking his devil tail.

I only rolled my eyes as we were paid for taking out our opponents and we left the arena with plenty of riches.

"I need to update my armor," Urakih thought aloud as we walked.

"Hey can I try some Japanese out on you?" I asked out of the blue.

"Huh?" he asked as his yellow eyes screwed up in confusion.

"I need to learn the language soon because I'm going there but I need to practice speaking it," I explained.

"Oh, ok. Fire away," he replied with an amused look on his scaly face.

"Konnichiwa! Anata wa doko ni iru!" I said with difficulty.

"You just asked me where I was, were you trying to ask HOW I was?" he asked.

"Oh yeah! Sorry!" I said, embarrassed, "Wait, how did you know what I was saying? Do you speak Japanese?"

"Yep!"

"That's so cool, so are you Japanese?"

"Don' be a stalker! Haha!

"I wasn't, I wasn't. Just curious."

A few weeks into Christmas break, Saturday morning, seven AM, and…yaaawn.

"Try to stay awake, sweetie!" my mom shook my shoulder from the front seat of the car.

"Huh? What?" I asked, snapping out of my half asleep state, "Am I still in America?"

"Not for long," my dad smiled as he parked the car, "We're here!"

"Ok, ok…" I mumbled as I left the car and stepped onto the cold ground.

I looked up to see an enormous building with people bustling in and out of it. Many looked like they were business men, running around with coffee cups, laptop bags, and hurried looks on their faces. The whole thing made me sick to my stomach and I just wanted to go home and curl up in bed but my luggage was thrust into my arms.

"Good luck, Rowan," my mom said, hugging me.

"Here's your passport and your boarding pass," my dad said, handing me a little book and some papers, "Do NOT lose them or you won't be able to go to Japan."

"Got it," I breathed, still intimidated by the long journey ahead.

I said my last goodbyes and nervously entered the large building. For the 50th time that day, I went over a list of instructions my aunt had sent me for successfully getting through the airport. The first one on the list was to find Kadence. I searched through the crowd of people, looking for a girl who looked like Skrillex but found nothing.

"Boo!" a voice came from behind me.

"AH!" I screamed, causing some security guards to look suspiciously at me.

"I got you," Kadence giggled smugly (something she never did at school).

"You…did…" I said, trying to catch my breath from the sudden shock.

"This place is so big! I've never been to an airport before, have you?" she asked, looking around.

"N-no, do you have your passport and boarding pass?" I asked.

"Yeah, they were hard to get since I needed to drag my father places for his signature and approval but I got them," Kadence said, rolling her eyes, "So what do we have to do first?"

"Well, according to my aunt's list, we need to get through security," I said worriedly, "Try not to look as sketchy as you usually do, ok?"

"Sure," she shrugged and we were off.

As we navigated our way through the airport, Kadence started pestering me.

"Do your parents know I'm even coming with you?" she asked.

"No," I sighed, "I lied to them about you being fine with coping on your own then just asked my aunt if you could tag along and she said yes."

"Aren't you worried you'll get in trouble?" Kadence asked.

The two of us just looked at each other then burst into laughter at this thought. Sure I'd get in trouble but did I care? No way! My aunt would totally back me up on my decision to bring Kadence along no matter what! We managed to get through security with Kadence scowling at the overly nosy security guards, then sat around in the boarding area for about two hours. While I waited, I checked into the airport wifi and logged onto Realmz.

"Finally, some nice fantasy fun!" I said, stretching my furry arms.

I checked my friend list, which of course, I only had one. Surprisingly, he was on! Urakih was usually only on at night when it was in the morning in whatever country he lived in. Yet this time, he was online!

** Kazuli whispered: Hi!**

** Urakih whispered: Finally! I was getting really bored!**

** Kazuli whispered: Me too. I'm glad you're here! I didn't think you'd be online at this time.**

** Urakih whispered: Hold on…coming to find you. And yeah, I'm only online this early because I'm waiting around for my flight…airports suck.**

I cocked my ear at this in confusion. Wasn't he supposed to be in a different country…so was he in my country? Maybe but he could also be in a different state, waiting for a different flight. Just then, I felt a scaly claw on my shoulder and jumped around to see Urakih.

"Ack!" I yelped, whipping around, "Oh hey! You scared me!"

"Heheh, sorry, anyways, do you want to go take on a dungeon raid?" he asked, hovering off the ground with his black wings.

"Aw, yeah!" I howled, hovering off the ground with my own steampunk wings.

I mashed different hotkeys as I took on monsters and blared dubstep in my ears while Kadence occasionally looked over from _Jane Eyre_. Why was Kadence reading an old book like that? I'll get to that later.

We reached a checkpoint in the dungeon and I took the time to scoop up some treasure and chug some potions. As I wiped my mouth of health potion, Urakih spoke up.

"Uh, hey. Listen," he said, starting to look uncomfortable, "So we've been adventuring together for a while and we make a good team. And I was thinking…once our teamwork bar fills up…we could take the steps to becoming married?"

**_PAUSE_**

Now you may be thinking 'WHAT THE HECK!?' But I will answer that simply. Realmz is, as I said before, an incredibly creative game that even lets you marry other players. However, it's not for love's sake more as it is that you fight better with your in-game lover. First, you have to fill up your teamwork bar which you achieve by taking on dungeons. The harder the dungeon, the more the bar is filled (and obviously ours was pretty close to being full for all the times we had adventured together). Once that fills up, you become a couple and unlock some cute emotes such as a peck on the cheek but most importantly: BETTER STATS! Yaaaaay!

Then, you have to fill up an even bigger bar to become married and then you really start kicking some butt with your lover because that's totally what you do when you get married. Go out and kill stuff!

**_PLAY_**

I blushed a little at this and twiddled my paws.

"U-uh…sure!" I mumbled.

"Great!" Urakih replied with a cute smile.

And with that awkward moment out of the way, we continued on to kick monster butt and finish the dungeon with an incredible score!

"Rowan, first class is boarding," Kadence said, punching my arm.

I typed 'G2G' then packed up to take to the skies.

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**(I've decided to have the characters announce the ending preview like in the anime and in my last fic)**

**Kadence: We get to fly first class!**

**Rowan: SERIOUSLY?! My aunt is awesome!**

**Kadence: Do you think they'll give us wine?**

**Rowan: Kadence, you're underage.**

**Kadence: -sticks tongue out-**

**Rowan: Next time, Chapter 4: My Flight to Another World**


	4. My Flight to Another World

**OMG, you're reviews have been so great! Shout out to CeruleanCat, Guest (idk if you're the same guest, consider getting an account. It's great here!), and SmolderingBlackRose (I've missed you!)**

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My first flight was a little scary, especially the takeoff, but that was actually kind of fun. It felt like a rollercoaster and people looked at us funny when Kadence and I put our arms up as the plane picked up speed and took off. We were just so excited that we were in the air! In the AIR! And because we were in first class we got to order dinner, in the AIR! We got to eat dinner, in the AIR! I watched movies, in the AIR! IN THE AIR! Sorry if I'm stressing this but it was just so amazing for us at the time because we never thought that we would ever get to fly in a plane!

Kadence however, thought that just because we were in first class, she could order whatever she wanted. She boldly asked the flight attendant if she could have a shot glass of red wine and of course the flight attendant said no. Oh right, I should probably explain this as it ties in with the _Jane Eyre_ situation in the last chapter. Despite looking like an emo girl who dumps mascara on her eyes, blares Skrillex in her ears, does her HAIR like Skrillex, and wears things with skulls and steampunk designs, there's another side to Kadence. She's a die heart romantic. The girl's read _Jane Eyre_ at least six times and _Pride and Prejudice_ eight times! Her favorite movies include _The Awful Truth _and _Bridget Jones' Diary_. She had even seen every _Jane Eyre_ movie (yes, even the black and white ones)! While she reads or watches some of these fluffy romances stories, she likes to drink wine, like most romance stories include.

Because she's underage, she'll only have a shot glass of it. While I lay down, not getting a wink of sleep, Kadence was engrossed in her book and every time I tried to get her attention, she responded with, 'Shh! I'm at the best part!'

"Kadence, get up! We're landing!" I hissed, shaking my snoring friend.

Kadence only shook her head and said in her sleep, "No…Jane…You have to love Rochester…"

"Kadence!" I hissed again, finally shaking her awake.

"Huh?! What! Did I miss the book?" she asked, waking with a start.

"No, we're landing," I said excitedly, "We're in Japan!"

She looked over at me with a smile on her face and we soon left the plane. Our eagerness was ruined when we forgot one small detail: language. EVERYTHING was in Japanese! We hardly knew any Japanese at all so it took longer than it should've to finally get our bags and make it outside. We were greeted by a red limo and my Aunt waving frantically. She had short, black hair and was dressed very classily.

"Oh Rowan, you've grown so much!" my aunt cried as I threw my arms around her.

"And you must be her friend, Kadence!" she said, shaking Kadence's hand, "Well welcome to Japan, girls! You get to ride in luxury to my mansion and then I'll take you on a tour of the city!"

"A limo," Kadence said happily and looking like she was hyperventilating, "To a mansion…in Japan!"

"Cool, right?" my aunt squealed, then we all proceeded to give out a screams of excitement.

The limo was the coolest thing ever with the ceiling illuminated in purple as well as the floor. She had a great surround sound system with a small TV and even a bar with super nice wine that Kadence was eying with want.

"I'm actually worried about starting school here…like…language-wise," I said nervously once we were in motion.

"Oh no need to worry!" my aunt said dismissively, "Most of the kids there can totally speak English so you'll be just fine!"

My aunt's mansion was one of the most impressive mansions I'd ever seen…even though it was the first one I had ever seen. Although I did do a lot of Google searches to find my dream home. Kadence and I spent thirty minutes running around the whole place, screaming like psychopaths because of all the SPACE! When we finally settled down, my aunt showed us our room and we started screaming again because that was so big too! The bed was bigger than a king size, we had the biggest TV I had ever seen, and a couch by the window that I could see being heavily used as a reading space for Kadence.

We spent the rest of Christmas break learning about the customs of Japan and getting a better grip of the language. Kadence came to love my aunt's limo and would spend most of her nights in there, watching romance movies and having shot glasses of red wine. Sometimes she would even sleep in there! I spent the rest of break working up my teamwork bar with Urakih and by the time school started, we were officially a couple. I also noticed that he was usually on when I was on! That had to mean he was in the same country as me! One night I was doing a dungeon raid with him when I heard a commotion from downstairs. I typed 'brb' then went to investigate.

"No…NO! I said no, Ralph!" I heard my aunt scream.

I peeked down the stairwell to see her screaming into the phone at my dad (yes, his name is Ralph).

"I couldn't just turn the poor girl down! Your daughter was genuinely worried for her and I couldn't leave her to be eaten alive!" Cindy yelled then paused and listened to my dad a bit more.

"So now I'm the bad guy!? You're the one who refused to let a girl escape torment! No, you cannot speak to Rowan!" she retorted.

_They're talking about Kadence. Good work, Aunt Cindy, you're always there to back me up. _I thought.

I decided to give my aunt some space and ventured out to her red limo to find Kadence. As usual, the girl was curled up with a bowl of popcorn, a shot glass of red wine, and a romance movie.

"'Sup," I said, shutting the door and taking a seat next to her.

"'Sup," she responded.

"We're starting school tomorrow…" I mumbled, "I'm worried,"

"Me too," Kadence said, her eyes glued to the TV.

"It just looks so rich and we aren't exactly refined girls," I sighed.

"Meh, those snobs can deal with it," Kadence said, shoving more popcorn into her mouth.

* * *

**Rowan: How many times have you seen Bridget Jones's Diary?**

**Kadence: Only two times, this is my second.**

**Rowan: Wow, I would've thought you'd at least seen it six times.**

**Kadence: It's good but not 'Jane Eyre movie' good.**

**Rowan: Next time, Chapter 5: Our New School...is Weird.**


	5. Our New School is Weird

**Thank you for all of your reviews everybody! I didn't expect so many :O**

**Now I may fall behind on updating chapters eventually because my life is starting to get crazy but luckily I have plenty of prewritten chapters to fall back on! Enjoy!**

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"Not so much makeup, Kadence," I told her, "This is a nicer school than the one we go to and you may look…uncultured if you wear that much mascara,"

"Meh," Kadence shrugged and proceeded to draw thick lines on her eyelids with eyeliner, "I need to express myself someway. Otherwise I'll just look like any other prissy girl that has to wear that gross uniform,"

The uniform was pretty disgusting and it was yellow which happened to be my least favorite color so I already hated our day. Kadence clashed the worst with the uniform. She looked like a rebel teen that was stuffed into the Queen's dress! Her hipster glasses and Skrillex hair did not match the dress…at all. We ate our super rich breakfast with terrible manners and the chefs looked at his like animals although we probably looked like it. Then we rode off to our new school and I looked nervous the entire time.

"What's up, Rowan?" Kadence asked as she flipped around on her phone.

"I'm just worried this school will be like the last," I said nervously.

Kadence looked up at me with sincerity in her eyes then looked away.

"We'll always be the odd-balls-out," she sighed, "Especially here. But at least we have a new start. And at least we have each other."

Then she held out her hand and said, "But we can do this!"

"Totally!" we said in unison as I took her hand.

We burst into laughter again at our in sync actions. We could never hold it together when we talked at the same time because it was just so funny to us! When we got out of the limo, my stomach churned at the sight of our new school. It was WAY bigger than it was in the picture and the one in the picture was already big enough! Kadence joined me as my jaw dropped and I almost dropped my books! The two of us only put on our skull earphones, began our morning dose of dupstep, and started walking. People gave us weird looks because they could tell that we didn't belong, and Kadence really stuck out like a sore thumb with her emo hair. The school was even bigger on the inside and it felt like we were walking through the White House! The walls and floors were all solid marble and the windows were towering over us! After meandering around the mansion-like school, we found our homeroom and took some seats in the back of the room.

Everyone turned in their desks to look at us: two lower class girls in frilly dresses with punk rock earphones on and one that looked like a female Skrillex. People looked pretty afraid to approach and Kadence and I deemed that as a good thing as we started checking Tumblr. After a few minutes of re-blogging, I felt a finger tap on my shoulder. Kadence and I removed our earphones and looked up to see a guy with short brown hair and big, brown eyes. He said something in Japanese that sounded like a 'welcome' and 'where are you from?'

"Thanks! We're from America," I said in choppy Japanese and the boy laughed.

"I can tell!" he said in English, "So what are your names?"

"I'm Rowan Keith and this is Kadence Steen," I replied with a smile, relieved that someone could speak English!

"'Sup," Kadence grunted.

"It's a pleasure to meet you ladies, I'm Haruhi Fujioka," he said, extending a hand.

I gladly shook it, knowing that someone wasn't looking at us like freaks from another planet! Just then two boys slid in behind Haruhi to get a look at us. The two were TWINS with red hair that stuck out from everyone else's. They looked us over with very weirded out expressions like everyone else had. One asked Haruhi something in Japanese that I could roughly translate into, 'Who're these kids?'

"These are the new transfer students from America, Rowan and Kadence," Haruhi said in English sweetly.

The twins just looked at us with somewhat of a disdain as if we looked like we didn't belong (which we didn't).

"'Sup," we said together but ended up cracking up from our in sync speech.

The brothers looked all the more confused at this and just scowled and said something about Kadence that was negative but I couldn't make out what.

"What are they saying?" Kadence asked, looking over at me in confusion.

"Heh, Totemo kawaīda, karera wa wareware ga nani o itte iru ka kentōgatsukanai!" One said with a laugh. (Heh, how cute. They have no idea what we are saying)

"Karera wa tada, nihongo o benkyō suru tame ni amarini mo muchidearu Amerika hitodesu," the other guffawed. (They are just Americans that are too ignorant to learn Japanese)

"Karera wa 90-nendai kara no monodearu yō ni to jibun no sutairu to wa nani ka, karera ga mieru!?" they finally said together. (And what is with their style, they look like they are from the 90s!?)

"Hey knock it off you two! Be nice!" Haruhi objected.

"Whatever," Kadence sighed, slipping her headphones back on which was her usual reaction to people like those two.

"Sorry about them," Haruhi said as the twins snickered at me, "These are the Hitachiin twins: Hikaru and Kaoru, they're a little annoying sometimes. Sorry about that…"

Kadence only went along with rocking out to Skrillex music while I continued to talk to Haruhi.

"It's ok, Kadence and I deal with people like them all the time," I sighed, "So what goes on at this school?"

"Not much at the beginning of the year but next month we'll have physical exams…let's see," Haruhi wondered aloud, "And oh yeah! There's a host club so you should check out! Hikaru, Kaoru, and I are all a part of it!"

"A…what?" I asked, puzzled.

"Haven't you ever heard of one before?" he asked as if I were crazy.

"N-no, are they important?" I asked curiously.

"They're all over Japan but the one here is the considered the best. They're basically clubs dedicated to having handsome men entertain girls!" he explained.

"…Why does that sound _really _wrong?" I asked with a shiver.

"N-not like that!" he said, frantically waving his arms, "We just charm them and such, you should really stop by!"

I looked over at Hikaru and Kaoru who were sticking their tongues out at me.

_If they're there, then I don't want to go. _I thought.

"We'll be sure to check it out!" I said with a fake smile.

"Great! We will be hosting today after school so we'll look forward to seeing you!" Haruhi chirped.

I heard one of the twins whisper something to his brother that I could translate into something along the lines of, 'Like they'll fit in,'

"I can hear you, you know," I spat at the two.

"Amerika no, anata no tame ni yoi," the two said in unison as the leaned in towards me, "Wareware wa anata ga omotte ita yō ni, sukunakutomo anata wa, munōde wa arimasen!" (Good for you American, at least you aren't as incompetent as we thought you were!)

I couldn't clearly translate that but I got the main gist of it and I could tell it was challenging.

Scowling, I muttered, "Va te faire foutre, debile…" (F*ck off, idiot)

That was about all the French I knew. I had only taken two years of it and I only memorized the insults for self-defense.

"Nous savons que trop. Vous ne pouvez pas gagner, salope!" they smirked, making my face screw up in anger. (We know that too. You can't win, b*tch)

Then, I felt Kadence move my earphones from my neck back onto my ears and she tapped around on my phone until some dubstep started playing. She just looked at me after that and shook her head as if to say, 'don't get involved. Just survive this like we do at school back home.' But how could I!? I wanted a fresh start at a new school for a change and while I knew there were bullies everywhere, I didn't think I'd meet them THAT quickly! I heard Haruhi scolding the brothers but I just ignored it as I logged onto Tumblr.

"So do you think we should visit the Host Club, I told Haruhi we would come," I said as I walked down the halls with Kadence at the end of the day.

"As much as I love Haruhi, the Hitachiin twins will be there and the one way we've survived school is to avoid people like them," Kadence sighed, fixing her hair.

"I know but don't you think we should reach out a little more this year?" I asked, shuddering at the thought of the brothers.

"Meh," came her usual response, "Maybe tomorrow."

And we did go the next day out of curiosity. The most important part of visiting a foreign country is to see all the different practices and going to a Host Club seemed like something that should be added to the list. It was definitely a cultural difference, alright! The girls seemed to fawn over every guy and you would request certain ones due to the type you liked best. We were greeted by the club when we walked in…in a very strange way.

"Welcome!" the club chorused as rose petals floated towards us.

"Welcome princesses," said the blonde one as he pranced towards us, "to the Ouran Host Club!"

"Uh…who are you?" Kadence asked in confusion.

"I am Tamaki Suoh, the king of this Host Club!" he beamed, his blue eyes sparkling with buckets of energy.

"Are these the girls from America?" a little blonde boy asked as he approached us.

"What's a kid doing in a high school?" Kadence thought aloud.

"He's a senior like me," a boy, rather dark looking, said as he walked up next to the boy.

"Yeah! You can call me Honey and this is Mori!" the blonde boy chirped happily.

"It's a pleasure to meet you too. I take it you're commoners from California," said another boy with black hair and glasses said, "Rowan Keith and Kadence Steel? Rowan, your aunt is a successful lawyer who runs a wealthy law firm, right?"

"Y-yeah!" I stuttered, surprised that he knew so much about me.

_At least they're all speaking English for me. _I thought in relief.

"Ā, sore wa futatabi sorera futatsuda," the twins said blankly. (Oh, it is those two again)

"You've met the twins before?" Tamaki asked.

"Just this yesterday actually, Haruhi too!" I added.

"Yeah, these two are really sweet," Haruhi said then turned to the twins, "And show some courtesy and speak their language!"

The twins just scoffed and walked off while the glasses boy approached us.

"I'm Kyoya Ootori, it's a pleasure to meet Miss Keith's niece," he said, "We'll make your first visit to our club free, how does that sound?"

"Sure!" I said, thankful.

"Why not," Kadence shrugged.

Honey glomped the two of us from behind and won us over with his cuteness so we decided to request him. He seemed to win over the girls with his adorable aura and I was no exception. Tamaki, the leader, seemed to win the girls over…with whatever it is he did. Haruhi just acted like himself and the twins…Oh God. Incest. Blech! I don't understand why a girl would ever be interested in guys who flirt with their brothers let alone their twins!

"Ro-chan, Kady-chan!" a cute voice snapped me out of my thoughts, "What's it like in America?"

The two of us looked down at Honey's big, eager eyes and smirked.

"It's a lot different than it is here," Kadence chuckled, "Like its normal to have hair like mine but everyone stares at me for it here,"

"I think it's pretty!" Honey chirped, "Where did you get it done?"

"I did it myself," Kadence said with pride.

The girls widened their eyes at her and began asking her all kinds of questions as to how she got it that way!

"What about you, Ro-chan? What's weird for you here?" Honey asked.

"Um…" I mumbled, trying to think of something, "People speak…a different…language?"

Honey just laughed at this and for the rest of the time, I practiced my Japanese with him and I felt a little more ready to take on the twins if they bugged Kadence and I again. My skills were put to the test after the club hours were over.

"Thanks so much for telling us about this, Haruhi! It was really fun!" I thanked him.

"Yeah and thanks for making our first request free," Kadence said to Kyoya.

"It was no trouble, do come back next time!" Kyoya beamed with an artificial looking smile.

We had only just walked out of the club room when we heard voices say in unison, 'hey,'

We turned to see the twins…again…they were getting annoying.

"What?" I snapped.

"No need to get angry," said one.

"We just want to talk," the other said.

"Well we don't want to talk," Kadence sighed as we put our headphones on and starting up some Skrillex music.

We began to walk off when the twins started walking along next to us. One by my side and one next to Kadence. Kadence shot me a glance and I got the hint. We picked up the pace a few steps but the brothers were obnoxiously persistent and kept up. After a while, I whipped around and took off my headphones.

"Leave us alone!" I shouted.

"Americans are feisty!" they said in mock surprise.

"C'mon, Rowan, ignore them," Kadence sighed and began dragging me off.

As I walked off, I gave them the 'I'm watching you' signal and they only rolled their eyes. I could tell we would hate each other all year long.

**Audience POV**

The twins watched the two America girls disappear down the hall.

"Ugh, Americans are such a pain," Hikaru complained.

"Yeah but…this game is getting a little old," Kaoru worried, "They're starting to take it too seriously. Think we should stop?"

"Yeah I guess," Hikaru sighed, "It's no fun if they're going to be grumpy. Still, I really can't stand ignorant foreigners…"

"Me neither," Kaoru lied.

_I don't want to disagree with my brother. That's recipe for disaster. But would it really hurt just to talk to them? _The younger twin thought.

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**Rowan: Hey Kadence...**

**Kadence:...**

**Rowan: Kadence!**

**Kadence: ...**

**Rowan: Turn your earphones down!**

**Kadence: Oh sorry!**

**Rowan: Do you want to do the ending preview or not?!**

**Kadence: Sure, we're going on a boat next chapter in Chapter 6: We Tag Along!**


	6. We Tag Along

**Shout outs to 15samcre, all the guests, and FairyTailGirl2! Thanks for your first time reviews on this story!**

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"Uuuuuuh…Vertical Angle Theorem?"

"Guess again,"

"Congruent Supplement Theorem?"

"Now you're just randomly guessing,"

"Well you did just say _guess _again!"

"I meant make an educated guess!"

"Well maybe you should've said, 'make an educated guess again'!"

"I give up!" I groaned as I slammed my calculator down on the bed, "It's impossible to teach you math!"

"Well maybe if they gave me a valid reason for learning this, I'd make an appoint to do better!" Kadence sassed as she rolled over on her back and stuffed a pillow on her head.

"Hey, do you want to stop by the Host Club tomorrow? If so, we should probably tell my aunt so she can start paying for it," I said, pulling out my laptop.

"Oh, yeah, did you get that email?" Kadence asked, whipping the pillow off her face and sitting up.

"What email?" I asked as I clicked on .

"Basically they're going to do what they normally do but on a three night cruise because this weekend is a three day one," Kadence explained, "We should totally go! I've never been on a cruise ship!"

"Maybe…" I said as I typed my username and password in, "But what about those annoying twins? I mean, I thought our way of survival was to hide from people like them. We spend an hour a day at our usual school hiding from the regular bullies,"

"But this is a once in a life time chance! We can handle them! They aren't nearly as bad as the kids at our school! The ones at home would HURT us if they got their hands on us, these twins are just talk," Kadence scoffed

"Fine, I guess we can take a little Hitachiin annoyance for some luxury," I sighed.

**(Haruhi POV)**

That day after school, we were having a club meeting to plan everything for the cruise trip when I got a little curious.

"Hey Kyoya," I said, peering over his laptop, "Do you remember that American transfer student, Rowan?"

"Yes," was all he said as he continued typing.

"I feel like her last name was familiar…" I pondered out loud.

"The Keith family is a law firm from America. They're very successful and rich enough to send Rowan here. They just set up a branch of their firm here in Japan. Someone interested in law such as you would've heard of them," Kyoya said, pulling up some files on Rowan, "However, the woman who runs it is only Rowan's aunt and she refuses to share any of her success with her brother: Rowan's father. Rowan actually comes from a sketchy district in South California. The school is public, they don't check student records when accepting new students, they have no rules against smoking or drugs, the bullying there is notorious for being very bad, and the GPA of the graduating classes are very low,"

"Wow…" I breathed.

"So they ARE ignorant Americans!" the twins laughed as the slid in behind me, "What do you have on Rowan's friend?"

"Kadence? Let's see…Kadence Steel," Kyoya said, clicking around on the laptop some more, "not much is known about her but there is quite a bit on her family. Her mother left her when she was only seven, her father is rarely sober and has been arrested for harassment many times, and her brother dropped out of high school his junior year and is now living with his girlfriend,"

"That's pathetic," Hikaru mumbled.

"How can you say that?!" Tamaki wailed with tears flowing from his eyes, "These poor girls come from a land of poverty so it is the Host Club's job to show them a good time while they're here,"

The twins just rolled their eyes and left but I had to agree with Tamaki, they deserved something nice.

**(Rowan POV)**

"Did you ask your aunt about the Host Club?" Kadence asked as I started up my laptop.

"Yeah, she says she'll pay for it," I mumbled back as I logged into Realmz.

"Cool,"

I was transported into the magical world of Realmz yet again with my dual black daggers and my expert skills!

"It's great to be the big bad wolf!" I howled as I stretched a little, getting used to by wolfish features again.

"Oh yay! Urakih is on!" I cheered as I saw his name on my 'online friends list'.

I took to the skies with my wings and weaved through masses of explorers and finally came across my virtual boyfriend.

"Hey, Urakih!" I chirped as I flew up and pecked him on his reptilian snout.

"Hey, Kaz!" he greeted back, "How are you?"

"Awesome!" I cheered, "How about you?"

"Ready to kick butt in the 2v2 ladder!"

"Sounds great!"

* * *

"Well that was boring," Urakih yawned as we stepped out of arena.

"Yeah, the others were too easy to beat," I sighed, scraping blood off my daggers.

"Hey, how would you like to fight me?" Urakih asked, making me jump.

"W-what!? Why?!" I asked, panicked, "Are you mad at me o-or something!?"

"Haha!" he laughed, "Nah, you're just the only one who can ever match my skill! We haven't actually fought since you first met me!"

"So would this be like celebrating an anniversary?" I asked slyly.

"If you want to call it that, sure," he shrugged.

"Then you are so on!"

* * *

"I won't go easy on ya, Kaz!" he yelled as a shower of arrows flew from his bow.

"Wasn't counting on it!" I shot back playfully as I rolled out of the way dashed for his neck.

As I took a swipe at him, he flapped his wings and bounded away. Then he took another shot at me, this time, the arrow exploding into a burst of magic. It hit me full blast and sent me flying into the wall! When the dust settled, Urakih flew up and aimed an arrow at my face once again but I somehow managed to get out of the way before it hit me. As I escaped another shower of arrows, I threw by daggers at him and they made a gook chink in his armor. My winning streak wasn't over yet as I caught my daggers then jumped up and soared at him with wings of my own. Urakih tried to keep me at bay with more arrows but I blocked them and got in a good hit on his face!

"Not bad," Urakih huffed as he jumped back.

I just smirked as I sprinted, leaping on the wall and running sideways toward him. That really set him off and he fumbled with his bow, trying to string in an arrow but I reached him before he could even make aim. His health went down by a good chunk but after my little victory, my guard went down. And boy, did I regret it. I'm usually able to break combo moves but his combo was flawless and I couldn't find a single way to break out of it. He shot waves of arrows at me, sent exploding ones, slashed my ears with his claws, and in the end, finished me off with a good whack with his tail.

"No fair, you always win," I said with a pout.

Urakih only laughed at this and helped me up saying, "You weren't so bad,"

"Are you just saying that because you're my boyfriend?" I asked slyly.

"'Course not!" he smirked with a mischievous look in his eye, "Would I lie to you?"

I giggled at this and we left the arena, bee-lining straight for the potion shop to stock up health potions.

* * *

SSSSSKKKKKRRIIIIILLLLEEEEEEXXXX!

That's how I wake myself up in the morning: set up my phone to blare Skrillex music as loud as humanly possible! And does it work? Yup! I slammed my hand down on my phone and the music died out as I groggily sat up.

"C'mon Kadence, get up," I said, shaking my friend, "We have to go,"

"Oh Elizabeth Bennet, you're so cool," Kadence muttered in her sleep.

"GET UP!" I finally yelled in her ear.

Kadence bolted upright, flailing her arms around like a possessed person! She began asking questions that she usually asks when I wake her up suddenly such as, 'did I miss the kiss scene?' or 'have they made another movie yet?'

"No you crazed romantic," I yawned, "We have to get ready,"

By the way, it's been a few days of us surviving the annoying clones at school and this is the morning we get on the cruise ship so hurray for time skips!

"Oh yeah! We go on the cruise today! I'm so excited!" Kadence squealed, suddenly more enthusiastic to get out of bed.

We got ready, Kadence wearing jeans and a long sleeved purple shirt while I wore a green skirt with a white shirt and brown vest.

"Did you pack the dresses we bought with my aunt?" I asked, "Remember, when they host in the evenings on this ship, we have to dress nicely,"

"Yeah, yeah!" Kadence sasses as she smudged blue eye shadow on then snapped, "Stop going through my suitcase!"

"Just making sure you're packed," I said defensively.

We scarfed down our breakfast and headed out the door with Aunt Cindy seeing us off and telling us how thrilled she was for us. Actually, the cruise ship isn't like the ones you seeing hauling their butts around major tourist harbors but instead a moderately sized one but not too small; just the right size to house seven sexy guys…er…five sexy guys (the twins were in no way smexy) and a crowd of fan-girls. The halls were super trendy and apparently they dimmed the lights in them at night, including the super trendy lounge! Now we thought the marble bar with fancy wines, the swimming pool on deck, and the food was nice…but we were NOT prepared for our room!

"We're number 04," Kadence announced as we walked down the hall, counting down the doors.

"I just can't get over how fancy this place is!" I squealed in excitement.

"I know!" Kadence chirped, joining in on my excitement.

We finally found our door and Kadence stuck the key in the door, turned it, and unleashed the excellence!

"Oh MY GOD!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

Kadence only let her jaw hang open as she dropped all her bags.

"EPIC!" I continued screaming.

"CIRCLE!" Kadence screamed, tearing off straight for the circular bed in the middle of the room.

"THIS IS THE BEST!" I screeched.

"CIRCLE!"

"IT'S LIKE A FANCY HOTEL ON THE WATER!"

"CIRCLE!"

"EEEEEE!"

"IT'S A MOTHER F*CKIN' CIRCLE!"

At that moment, we both covered our mouths, realizing all the ruckus we caused and Kadence quickly shut the door.

"If anyone asks, it was the next door people," Kadence whispered, holding back laughs.

"This is insane!" I exclaimed, running around the room.

It was the size our room at my aunt's house but with a super plush carpet, a circular bed, a wide-screen TV embedded in the wall, a walk-in shower, and everything designed super-trendily.

…Circle…

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**Rowan: Kadence, you are so obsessed with circles.**

**Kadence: Eheheheheee! Circles!**

**Hikaru and Kaoru: Hey, keep it down down there!**

**Kadence: Meh**

**Rowan: Next Time in Chapter 7: Kadence's Interesting Realization**

**Kadence: How come you get to read all the chapter titles!?**


	7. Kadence's Interesting Realization

**Shout out to Stella Anderson, Mglovesowlcity, and AbbySmiles86 for their first time reviews! And thank you to everyone else who faved, followed, and reviewed, love you lots!**

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Now if you thought our room wasn't cool enough, wait until you hear about the hosting event. Kadence and I spent the day in our epic room, making ourselves at home, playing Realmz, listening to Skrillex, and obsessing over Tumblr. Finally the evening began and we headed down to the lounge to enjoy some hosting bliss. And boy was it sweet! The lounge had nice jazz music, really fancy looking food with this weird stuff called 'fatty tuna', and dead handsome guys! All the hosts were wearing tuxedos and may I say that Honey looked freaking adorable? Mori looked pretty handsome himself and Kadence and I enjoyed the evening very much so. However…all good things come to an end and we were all sent on our way. I have an interesting story to tell about the lounge…after hours…but Kadence wants to tell her story first so on to her!

**(Kadence POV)**

It was 10:30 at night when the all the girls finally decided to hit the sack but do you think _I'd _go to bed at such an hour? Hell no! Ten PM is just the beginning for me especially when there are romance books to be read and ESPECIALLY if it's the end of _Jane Eyre._ The whole mood of Jane hearing about Rochester surviving the fire was just so powerful with the sea current blowing in my hair (and messing it up but who cares?) and the serene sound of nothing.

_Jane just loves Rochester so much. So much to even love him even after he's gone blind and crippled. _I thought as I slowly savored the book, one word at a time. _That's right, Jane! Go see Rochester! You still love hiiiim!_

"Hey!"

"HOLY COWS!" I screamed as I jumped and whipped around.

"Calm down, it's just me!" one of the Hitachiin twins said, putting his arms up in defense.

"Oh...u-uh…" I mumbled, hiding _Jane Eyre_ behind my back.

The twins already made fun of my hipster look and nationality. I did not want them making fun of the emo girl which for some odd reason, likes romance novels!

"What are you doing out so late?" he asked curiously.

"N-nothing! Just getting some fresh air!" I said quickly and nervously.

_This one seems a little nicer than the other… _I thought.

Normally I'd be much calmer but with such a major secret at stake, I was very nervous.

"What's that behind your back?" he asked.

_Oh shoot, he saw it!_

"Nothing!"

He arched his neck and tried to see around me but I kept moving around so he couldn't see it. Somehow, this gave him quite the amusement and I could tell by that smirk on his face what he was going to do.

"Oh no you don't!" I said, starting to back away.

He only laughed and ran at me, making me run for my reputation!

"Just let me see it!" he shouted playfully as I rounded a corner.

"No!" I protested, running out of breath.

"Seriously!" he called, still chuckling.

"You don't _look _like you're taking this seriously!" I shouted back.

I was only able to make one lap around the boat before I ran out breath. What can I say, I skip gym class? He even won the tug-of-war fight but that was only because I didn't want the book to be damaged so I let it go. The twin's amused expression dropped when he saw it.

"Oh…it's just a _Jane Eyre _book," he said with a bored look on his face.

"Fine! Now you know, you creep!" I sassed, swiping the book from his hands.

"Know what?" he asked, "That you read romance novels?"

"AND I'm emo! Don't you think that's weird for someone like ME to like romance novels!?" I shouted.

"…No," he said simply.

"See! That's…wait what?" I said, double-taking.

"Why is that weird?" he asked, cocking his head.

"You…don't think it's weird?"

"…No,"

Congratulations to one of the biggest meanies who made my first week at Ouran less than enjoyable for breaking a common stereotype! But seriously, people found it disturbing that me, a goth girl who should be listening to Skrillex and chewing gum 24 hours a day, likes fluffy romance novels!

"I actually think it's kind of cool!" he said nicely, "Not many people enjoy the old classics,"

"Do you like romance novels too?" I asked curiously then began mentally slapping myself for asking such a stupid question.

"Not really but I am really into literature and I didn't think anyone else found old books interesting," he chuckled, "You're a lot cooler than I thought, Kadence!"

For some reason, I felt my face heat up a little and, not knowing what to do at that comment, I just adjusted my bulky glasses.

"And I'm sorry about the way my brother have been treating you and Rowan lately," he said, shifting uncomfortable, "I've tried toning it down…but my brother still doesn't like you two…"

"Oh uh…" I mumbled, getting flustered and adjusting my glasses again, "Yeah…which one are you?"

His expression seemed to drop at this and I could see a glint of let down in his eyes.

"I'm Kaoru," he said with a sad voice.

_Um…What did I do? Was it something I said? _I thought, trying to think of anything I said that might be offensive.

"Well goodnight, Kadence!" Kaoru said, managing a smile.

With that, he was off and I was left standing there: _Jane Eyre_ clutched to my chest and an astonished look on my face. There was a good minute of silence after he left when I finally spoke.

"Damn it, I'm in love,"

**(AN: and yes, that twin was Kaoru because in the previous chapter he said they deserved a chance so no need to worry about twin trickery here!)**

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**It's short but important. So Kadence has it out for Kao-Chan!**

**Rowan: Blech, I cannot believe you like him!**

**Kadence: Bu he's so cute...**

**Rowan: No buts! He and his brother were evil to us!**

**Kadence: But I love him...**

**Rowan: No you don't! Ugh, I knew this day was coming, you'd meed a guy and apply all your Victorian romance stories to him.**

**Kadence: He's like a nicer version of Darcy!**

**Rowan: Sure and Hikaru is like the evil version of him...**

**Kadence: Exactly! Next time in Chapter 8: Rowan's Horrifying Realization! Get ready ppl, Hikaru and Rowan are about to find out the big secret!Dun dun DUN!**


	8. My Horrifying Realization

**Shout out to AniMags and humanentity for your reviews! Thanks so much!**

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It was 10:30 at night when the all the girls finally decided to hit the sack but do you think I'd go to bed at such an hour? Hell no! Ten PM is just the beginning for me especially when there are MMORPGs to be played and ESPECIALLY if it's Realmz! I was only gone for about twenty minutes to get my laptop but when I got back to the lounge, everything was cleaned up! I also changed out of my black dress and into a blue sweater and jeans. So there I was! Ready to play some Realmz in the boat lounge to dimmed lights and the sound of waves when…random encounter: Hikaru Hitachiin! Great…uuuugh!

He was on his laptop too with his headphones on and he had changed out of his tux and into a tank top and jeans.

"What are _you_ doing up?" he asked with disgust.

"None of your business," I snapped back.

I took a seat on the OTHER couch that had its back up against the couch he was sitting on. He only rolled his eyes and went back to whatever it is he was doing. I attached my skull headphones on my head, plugged my laptop charger in, and booted up Realmz.

"Today's the day!" shouted as I spawned in the main city, "Well… if he's even online,"

"Well hello, stranger," I heard a smooth voice from behind me.

"Urakih!" I squealed as I threw my wolfish arms around him, "You're online!"

"I wouldn't miss our wedding day," he chuckled and licked my ear with his lizard tongue.

"You're the best!" I said sweetly and pecked him on the lizard snout.

"Let's be off and after our stats upgrade with this partnership, we should head for the arena. I heard some mods will be on tonight and we might have a shot at taking them out," he said slyly.

"Sounds awesome!" I yelped like a pup.

I followed my online friend to the chapel in the city and I just thought about how he was really my only friend in this game. He had been nothing but nice to me since I met him and he was the nicest and most chivalrous guy I knew…er…lizard I knew. I watched as we talked to the priest NPC and a little message on the screen said, 'Urakih has requested to marry you. Do you accept?' Uh, YES! And bam, we were married and I did a little jig in my seat as my stats boosted to a new level of epicness. Plus I had married someone I had never met yet I felt sort of a connection with him anyway as if he had always been there for me, always helped me, always had been kind to me, always…

Waaaait…wait for iiiit.

I heard the twin on the couch behind me give a litte 'yes!' so I turned to see what was on his screen. It was the EXACT setting I was in! But he was…he was…

_Hikaru…Urakih…Hikaru…Urakih…H-I-K-A-R-U…U-R-A-K-I-H…Oh no… _I thought as I continued to stare at him with a horrified face.

Hikaru noticed my stare of terror and at first looked at me with an irked expression until his hazel eyes fell on my computer screen. He realized the same horrifying realization I had. Hikaru looked back up at me with a "what the hell I don't even" face. I TIMED the moment and it went on for 73 seconds! 73 seconds! Over a minute of red faces, heavy breathing of disbelief, and awkward averting eyes. The entire time we just stared at each other, faces heating up until we were the temperature of a furnace!

"K-Kaz?" he asked weakly.

"Oh my God…" I stammered with a repulsed look breaking my shocked one. I felt dirty.

So what do you do when something like this happens?

"AAAAAH!" I shrieked.

"AAAAAH!" shouted Hikaru.

We screamed in sync as I tried to scramble off the couch but I forgot about my laptop charger. Feeling the cool wire get tangled in feet, I fell flat on the plush carpet, my laptop tumbling down next to me.

_I married Hikaru Hitachiin in a game. I married Hikaru Hitachiin in a game. I married Hikaru Hitachiin in a game. I married Hikaru Hitachiin in a game! The Same Hikaru Hitachiin who was a complete bitch to me my first week of going to Ouran! I married a JERK! _I thought in a panic as I tried to get untangled from the charger. That only made it worse and knots began to form around my ankles!

While I struggled, Hikaru's head just barely popped over the top of the sofa, cautiously looking at me as if I were a rabid animal about to eat him alive! I always wanted respect, almost fear, from him but now I wasn't so sure.

"K-Kaz?" he repeated in a trembling voice.

I counted again. This time, about 4 seconds passed before I responded.

"…U…U-U-Urakih?" I said the name that I thought I used to know so well.

9 seconds this time. I got tired of watching our faces rise in temperature and the clock tick by in time so I decided to untangle my feet. While I pulled away at a knot in the wires, I snuck a glance back up at him. He just kept staring with widened eyes but he was no longer utterly mortified. Now he only watched me with curiosity, like a cat watches a string of yarn. Almost like…well, a pervert. After 30 seconds of more untangling and eye boring, I gathered up my laptop and its troublesome charger. I stood up, putting on a face of dignity despite my red face. Hikaru just kept staring at me in curiosity, his head still peeking above the sofa. A few more seconds of staring, thumping hearts, and flushed faces, I turned to him. It took all my willpower to break the silence.

"Thank you for playing with me," I said monotonously, bowing to him in thanks.

I felt his cat eyes follow my head as it bent towards the ground and back up again. My blue eyes lingered on his for another second before I turned and walked off briskly, my laptop hugged to my chest.

When I burst through door, I found Kadence lying on the bed, her book clutched to her chest and a look of pure felicity on her face. It was wiped away when she saw the ill look on my face.

"What's wrong?" she asked, sitting up.

"I-I," I sputtered, trying to catch my breath.

"What?" she asked worriedly.

"N-nothing," I finally gasped, catching my breath and flopping down next to her, "I-I tell you in the morning, okay?"

"K," she said and switched out the lights.

_I was in love with someone I didn't know but now I know him and he's a jerk! But…he does have a gentle side…I saw it when I was online with him all the time…so why does he seem so mean when he was nice to me all this time? _I thought, confused. _So…Have I been in love with him this whole time without even knowing it? Damn it, I'm in love…hate…I DON'T KNOW!_

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**Rowan: AAAAAAAAAAaaaagh! What is my life?!**

**Kadence: Next time, in Chapter 9, Kadence Goes Crazy! It's a bit of a random filler for humor ^^'**


	9. Kadence Goes Crazy

**Shout out to the random Guest that reviewed and caijda! Bit of a filler chapter here.**

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Kadence and I slept in the next morning…well at least I thought she did. In reality, she had been up since ten in the morning, dousing her Skrillex hair in hairspray and making an appoint to look nice. Now THAT was weird! Kadence never cared about what people thought of her so as a result, she never tried to look nice or impress anyone. But now she seemed as if there was a certain someone that needed to see her at her best! Anyways, I was curled up in bed, my head under the covers, still in denial that I had been friends with a jerk online and I stayed that way until two in the afternoon. When I finally gathered my thoughts and emerged from under the silk sheets, I found Kadence looking…different.

She was curled up on the couch, infatuated by whatever daydream that consumed her mind, and I noticed something strange. Her eyes were more subtle than usual, rather than having gobs of eyeliner and mascara on them! She also wore less harsh eye shadow and lipstick and… EARBUDS! FREAKING EARBUDS! Now no offense to the people out there who wear earbuds but they're for sissies **(AN: seriously, no offense. In reality, I wear earbuds) **and Kadence and I only ever wore ear PHONES! They were heavier, more BA, and gave you better sound quality in my opinion. So why was Kadence acting suspiciously girly that day?

"What?" she asked, snapping out of her day dream and looking at my shocked face.

I just stood at her with my jaw wide open.

"What?" she asked again.

"Who…just…what…I don't even…" I sputtered, trying to make sense of the situation.

"…_What?_" Kadence asked again with more worry in her voice.

"Why are you...like…that?" I managed to ask.

"You mean like this?" Kadence gestured to her black dress and light makeup, "Don't I look cute?"

"CUTE!? CUTE?!" I shrieked then pointed at her, "Who are you and where's the real Kadence?!"

"What are you talking about, I am the real…" Kadence began to say with a concerned look.

"Don't lie to me, body-snatching alien!" I shouted, "I know what you did to Kadence, you probed her didn't you?!"

"Rowan, calm down!" Kadence hissed.

"No, you imposter!" I cried.

"I'm not an imposter!" Kadence retorted, rolling her eyes.

"Oh yeah? Then what's my favorite Skrillex song?" I asked haughtily.

"Bangarang," Kadence replied simply.

"Not bad…hmm…What's my motto when it comes to desserts?" I asked.

"'I don't care if I puke, I'll regret it later'"

"You're one smart alien…"

Kadence rolled her eyes.

"What's my worst fear?"

"Your Realmz account getting hacked,"

"And what's…"

"Cut it out! It's me already! Haven't I proven myself enough?" Kadence finally shouted.

"Ok, fine. It's you," I sighed, crawling out of bed and getting a better look at her, "But why aren't you yourself?"

"Oh no reason," she said with a girly giggle.

She was really starting to scare me.

"I just wanted to look nicer today. You know, lay off the goth makeup and wear earbuds. The usual," she shrugged.

"No…" I muttered, "Just why? You never cared before,"

"Well I do now," she said with a cute smile.

Right then, I got it. Putting my hands on my hips, I looked her dead in the chocolate eyes.

"Kadence, are you in love?" I asked seriously.

"Hee hee! Maybe," she giggled with a blush.

I slapped my hand against my freckled forehead. I_ knew_ it would only be a matter of time before Kadence fell in love and I_ knew_ it would be weird. With all the romance books she had read, she would fall madly in love! Although I thought it would've taken longer. Whoever she liked had to be accepting of her and her weird romantic obsession with kissy books. Most people Kadence disgusted but this guy had to be pretty darn accepting if Kadence liked him! Not to mention she set the chivalry bar pretty high from reading lovey dovey stories from the days when chivalry was a big part of being a guy (*coughcough*VictoriantimeslikePrideandPrejudice*Coughcough*)!

"So who is it?" I asked exasperatedly.

"Promise you won't tell a soul?" she whispered.

"I promise, just tell me!" I demanded as I plopped down next to her.

"So you know the Hitachiin twins, right?" she asked.

I just looked at her with a dead look in my eye then let myself fall off the couch. Groaning, I looked up at her as if to say 'really?'

"What now!?" she screamed.

"You're in love with one of those jerk-faces?!" I asked in a panic.

"Yes but just Kaoru. I talked to him last night and he found out about my obsession and he's totally cool with it! He's actually a lot sweeter than his brother and even apologized for the way they had been treating us," Kadence explained sweetly.

"What if he's tricking you?" I asked.

"How dare you? He would never do that!" Kadence gasped.

"And why not? They were complete bitches to us the first week of Ouran and they haven't gotten any better!" I replied.

"But Kaoru is nicer than I thought he was!"

"Again: he could be tricking you!"

"That's up for me to decide!" Kadence finally huffed then turned up her nose.

"Whatever well one of them still acts like a jerk," I sighed, getting up and looking for a change of clothes.

"Is Hikaru still mean? He didn't apologize like his brother?" Kadence asked curiously.

I shuddered, thinking back to the night before.

"N-no," I said quickly and pulled on an outfit.

"Did something happen?" Kadence asked, dropping her lovesick puppy look and showing her usual side.

I was silent at this, shuddering at the thought of him.

"Rowan?" Kadence asked, "Does this have to do with what you were supposed to tell me about this morning?"

"It's nothing!" I finally said, throwing on a white blouse and a turquoise skirt.

"Please don't keep secrets from me," Kadence begged.

"Look," I sighed, "I'll tell you before I go to bed, ok? I promise."

"…Fine…"


	10. Things Get Complicated

**Shout out to yeeeeyyy and Merf for their first time reviews! You guys should make an account here, it's rly nice here on **

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I could tell you about what happened at the hosting event the next evening but I really don't want to. It's not like it was bad, it was just as charming and sweet as usual but it was the same as the night before so you'd understand if I immediately dismissed the idea of going on Realmz. Instead, I changed into a white polo and gym shorts, walking barefoot onto the deck of the boat. I plopped down in a reclining sun chair, giving a sigh of stress, still unable to believe what had happened. Only a few minutes had passed when I heard footsteps coming up behind me and I knew exactly who they belonged to.

"What do you want, Hikaru!?" I shouted, jumping out of the chair to face him.

He looked strangely more innocent tonight, wider eyes and a purer expression.

"I'm Kaoru," he said, a hint of sadness in his tone.

"Oh, it's just _you,_" I spat with displeasure, not happy to see Hikaru's carbon copy either.

I returned to reclining in the sun chair, hoping he would leave.

"Rowan…I just wanted to apologize," he said sincerely, walking to the side of the chair to see me.

"For what, being a complete jerk to me?!" I shot back at him.

He flinched a little at this and his eyes moved away.

"Yes,"

This took be by surprise! He had been so cruel to Kadence and I and now he approached me with all the humility in the world in his voice, apologizing for being a dick! Maybe Kadence did have a reason for liking him. Once again, there was a five second moment of silence (I now had had 2 awkward moments of silence with both of the Hitachiins) until Kaoru was brave enough to break the silence.

"I'm sorry Rowan…and I'm sorry about my brother, he'll take longer to come around," he apologized, his immaculate honesty making me soft.

"Yeah," I whispered, "Can I ask you something?"

"Anything," he said, sitting on the edge of the sun chair, looking down on me.

For Kaoru, it was another moment of silence that followed, but for me, thoughts and emotions flew around in my head.

_He came out here to apologize to me. The way he said it, the messages he sending towards me…does he like me? _I thought.

Both of the Hitachiin brothers had managed to screw up my emotions. Finding out Hikaru wasn't who he said he was, was enough but NOW I had to learn that Kaoru wasn't either?! What next, Haruhi is secretly a girl!? Ha!

"…Rowan?" Kaoru's raspy voice brought me out of my thoughts and back into his presence.

Avoiding his gaze, I began studying my nails.

"It's about Hikaru," I admitted, "Something happened,"

Nervous to move on, I looked back up at him, but he just sat expectantly with all the patience in the world. No insults or harassing to hurry up.

"Do you know about a game called Realmz?" I asked.

"Yeah, my brother and I used to play it all the time about 2 years ago but no one could ever beat us so we quit," he explained, "Why?"

"I've been friends with Hikaru on Realmz since December but I didn't realize it was him…until last night,"

"And?" Kaoru asked.

"And…" I said, reluctant to admit the details, "We became really good friends, got married in the game, and…"

My face flushing red, I looked away and muttered, "And we even kind of flirted via chat…"

I waited for him to laugh at me, but instead nothing like that came.

"How is that bad?" he asked.

I shot a glare at him and opened my mouth when he cut me off.

"I mean, uh, it was probably very awkward to learn that the guy you flirted with wasn't the at all who he said he was!" Kaoru frantically saved himself from my wrath then calmed down a little and went back to gazing into my eyes, "But I think that just means you figured out a better side of my brother. That's pretty amazing, Rowan,"

"You really think it's an 'amazing' thing?" I asked skeptically.

"Yeah," he said sincerely, "Ever since you came here, all you've done are amazing things. Most girls just want to win Hikaru and I over and try to endure our teasing. We also thought that all girls were easy to please through petty things, but you changed that. You treated us like the jerks we were to you and proved to us that not all girls are as prim and proper as they should be,"

"Wow…uh," I said, shocked at all the compliments that came out all at once. Who knew Kaoru could be so nice, Kadence really was right.

"Thanks," I said, sitting up and hugging my knees to my chest, "Hopefully Hikaru will recognize that I'm an amazing person,"

"I hope so too," Kaoru sighed, "My brother's kind of a dummy,"

"You could say that again," I giggled then I sighed, "Thanks for helping me, Kaoru,"

"Sure," he smiled.

Kaoru was nice and did have me going for a bit but I was soon reminded why that would never work out.

"Hey," Kadence said monotonously, her face stuffed in a _Pride and Prejudice _book.

"Hey," I sighed from exhaustion. Confusing emotions make you tired!

"Where have you been?" she asked, still not bothering to look up from her book.

"Oh, I was just…" I started to say.

_Hold it Rowan! _I thought, biting my tongue. _Kadence likes Kaoru so what would she say if she knew he was practically hitting on me?! Should I tell her…or should I…_

"…playing Realmz," I quickly fibbed.

"You're too obsessed," Kadence said.

"Says the girl whose reading _Pride and Prejudice _for the 3rd time," I scoffed.

"Fourth time," Kadence corrected me.

I flopped down next to her on the bed and pulled my laptop out of its case.

"Soooo," Kadence said, putting her book down, "You were going to tell me what happened last night?"

"Huh? Oh…uh…yeah," I muttered.

I had already had to explain the embarrassing story to Kaoru, I did NOT want to tell it again! Oh well, at least it was better than breaking her heart and telling her that Kaoru had a crush on me.

"Alright, I'm just gonna get this over with!" I announced determinedly, "I've been flirting with Hikaru Hitachiin on Realmz for the past month without knowing it was actually him!"

Kadence stared at me for a minute until she burst into hysterical laughter.

"H-hey!" I shouted, trying to suppress a blush, "It's not funny!"

"Bahahaha! I-I always told you that you have to be careful who you talk to on the internet, Rowan!" she sputtered through laughs, "And now THIS! THIS is priceless!"

I couldn't hold it back anymore, feelings erupting, face turning crimson, tongue going loose…

"I think I may have fallen for him!"

Kadence's laughter immediately ceased and she looked at me with an 'are you crazy' face.

"I got to know who he really was on Realmz…and I sort of fell in love with him…but then I learned what he was really like," I confessed, "I just want to hate him but I can't! Ugh!"

Kadence thought to herself for a moment before speaking, "Well maybe he wasn't actually being nice to you out of honesty,"

"What?"

"Think about it, he's part of the Host Club, they charm girls for a livelihood," she explained, "I bet he flirted with plenty of girls over the internet,"

"Doesn't that seem a bit shameless?" I asked, "I mean, even for him,"

"Hey, you see how shameless Tamaki is during hosting hours," Kadence retorted, "Who's to say Hikaru isn't the same?"

"Well he is kind of a bitch so I wouldn't be surprised if he were that shameless," I grumbled, "Yeah, you're probably right,"

"Great, glad we got your emotions sorted out," Kadence punched me lightly in the arm then slid off our circular bed, "I'm gonna go brush my teeth,"

"K," I muttered, letting my thoughts run wild.

_That doesn't seem right…Kaoru said I discovered a better side of Hikaru, not that he was leading me on for fun. Who do I believe? With all my heart, I want to believe Kadence, I want to hate him…but somehow I can't._

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**Kadence: Rowan, I always knew you'd get into trouble for talking to strangers on the internet!**

**Rowan: Damn hormones...damn Hikaru.**

**Kadence: Next time in Chapter 11, Finally an Agreement!**

**Rowan: That sounds positive at least.**


	11. Finally, an Agreement

**Shout out to dieing and ShadowhunterCici02 for their first time reviews! ShadowhunterCici brilliantly suggested that "That's what you get" by Paramore was a good theme song for Rowan so go check that out!**

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It was the last day on the tiny cruise boat and the next morning we'd dock back into Japan! I was a little sad that it was ending, even though my hormones and a certain twin drove me crazy the whole time. The final hosting event was held on the deck during the day time and the attire was summer casual (I had to explain to Kadence's emo mind what that was). Me on the other hand, had a decent grasp on the concept and wore jean shorts and a white shirt with red horizontal stripes (and some rocking shades). Forgetting all about the twin controversy, I sat with Honey and Mori, trying to get Mori to say something longer than a syllable and glomping Honey.

"Aaaw…" I heard Honey whine, "I'm out of cake,"

"I can get you some more, I think I know where it is," I said, getting up.

"Oh no, Ro-chan, you don't have to do that," Honey grinned, cake still all over his face.

"Nah it's fine, I'm already up anyway," I said dismissively and began heading for the lounge.

"Well in that case, get plenty of strawberries!" Honey called after.

I heard more fangirls squeal over his adorableness as I exited the deck. Air conditioned bliss was waiting for me on the inside, cooling off all the sweat beading my body. I hopped the bar counter and opened the mini fridge, grabbing a plate of strawberry cake. I felt my mouth water just looking at it. As I peeled off the plastic wrap, I heard someone set something down on the other side of the bar counter. Holy cows, how long had he been there? It seemed like he just noticed me too.

"Oh…hey," I said reluctantly, feeling awkward around him.

He responded in kind by looking away awkwardly. Judging by the ice bucket, he was sent in to get some more for his guests.

_Okay, might as well get this off your chest now, Rowan. _I thought. _Maybe your love-hate thoughts will go away if you do._

I hopped the bar counter (doors? who needs those?) and just stood in front of him. He just kept on looking away, a scowl on his face. What was he thinking, that I'd poof away if he just didn't look at me long enough!? I cleared my throat impatiently, demanding his hazel eyes onto mine. But that only just made me all weird inside and I almost looked away myself.

"I just wanted to apologize for the whole…" I tried to say it, "…Realmz…thing…I didn't know it was you and…"

"Fine," he said bluntly

"Hm?"

"Just forget it ever happened," he grimaced, "In fact, just stay away from me from now on, ok?"

Before I could respond, he turned around and started back to the deck.

"Uh…ok?" I whispered to myself

"Meinu," I swear I heard him say under his breath.

I was unfamiliar with that Japanese word. I'd have to look it up later.

_Well at least we agree we should never speak of this ever again. _I sighed in relief, leaning up against the bar counter. _I can just get on with my time in Japan and let the memory fade. I'm sure my conflicting feelings will fade away as well._

"That cock!" I screamed, slamming my laptop shut.

I screamed so loud, Kadence flinched away from her book!

"What is it now?" she asked.

"Hikaru and I for once reached an agreement today, that we should never speak again, but as he left he muttered some Japanese word under his breath," I explained, "I just looked it up and he called me a BITCH! Jerk face! I just hate him!"

But there it was again, I could never say 'hate' without feeling love. What was wrong with me?

"…but I just…Oh, Kadence I just can't explain it. I want to hate him, I SHOULD hate him but I can't no matter what I do!"

Kadence rolled her brown eyes and set down her book.

"For the last time, Rowan, he was playing you. I'm sure he never meant anything he said in Realmz," she said, flipping her Skrillex hair.

"Yeah but…" I stopped myself before I could go further.

Kadence looked at me expectantly, wondering why I had stopped.

I couldn't tell her what Kaoru told me, that Hikaru wasn't leading me on, but then…that'd break her heart. Because then she'd know Kaoru liked me and not her.

"...I just can't get over it," I groaned, putting on an act, "Damn hormones,"

"Are you on your period or something?" Kadence asked joking, poking me, "Periods can make your emotions go crazy,"

"Yeah, that must be it," I was in self-denial, "Just menstruating,"

I was only desperately searching for a scapegoat to blame my screwed up feelings on.

* * *

**Kadence: Next time, we begin The Date Swap: Part 1!**

**Rowan: Part 1!? How many parts are there?!**

**Kadence: 4**

**Rowan: Kill me **


	12. The Date Swap Part 1

**Warning: Running out of left over chapters. The only reason updates have been frequent r because these were prewritten. Anyways, shout out time! Shout out to our first time reviewers: Jazira, StarlightWolf19, XxRackCityBitchxX, aaa17, imafangirlforever, OhshcRose, WatermelonForDays, 0hg0sh, and Sienna xoxo. Wow! Thank you ALL for your reviews! I can't thank you enough, you mean so much to me!**

* * *

I lugged my suitcase down the hallway, still tired from waking up so early. I had been up all night on Tumblr.

_Must…get to…deck…so I can get on…land…and find…coffee shop._

"Morning Rowan,"

I looked up to see Kaoru walking past me with…AN ESPRESSO! Sweet, sweet caffeine!

"Where did you get the coffee?" I asked excitedly.

Kaoru only smiled at my addiction and signaled me to follow, taking me back to the lounge. There was a coffee machine in a remote corner of the lounge that I hadn't noticed before. I dropped my suit case and booted it up right away.

"Aaah," I sighed in satisfaction, sipping down half the cup.

"Didn't know you were so into coffee," Kaoru chuckled.

"Are you kidding?" I said in between gulps, "I stay up late every night, I can't survive without this stuff!"

We both sat down on one of the sofas, me being the commoner I was, putting my feet up on the black marble coffee table. Coffee tables are for coffee? Pffft, nah they're for feet!

"So…have you talked to Hikaru lately?" I asked.

Kaoru seemed to look a little disappointed at this topic for some reason

"It's strange, he hasn't told me anything about the issue," Kaoru sighed, "He usually tells me everything,"

"Maybe he just wants to keep you out of all the drama," I suggested hopefully, "Besides, he and I already reached sort of an agreement,"

Kaoru looked up hopefully.

"Hikaru told me to never speak of it again and never to come near him again," I said coolly, taking another sip of coffee, "Which I totally agree with, the farther I'm away from him, the quicker I can forget this whole incident,"

"But," Kaoru brought me out of my caustic look.

"Then he hasn't learned anything…" he said sadly.

"What is there to learn?" I shrugged.

"Hikaru is pretty immature," Kaoru sighed.

"Yeah," I muttered under my breath.

"And he needs to understand that you can't just forget something," Kaoru said pensively, "You need to resolve it,"

"Well I apologized…" I said.

"But did he?" Kaoru asked, looking back to me.

"No…but it's not like I was expecting to get one," I pouted.

"Then _he_ still needs to resolve it," Kaoru finished.

_I wish we could just bury this in the past already. _I groaned in my head. _Like he'll ever apologize anyway._

"But…" Kaoru trailed off, "To make it up to you, I have a question to ask,"

-Scene Change-

**Kadence POV**

I can only stay away from my headphones for so long before putting them back on and blaring Skrillex into my ears. Before packing my bags, I decided to look for Rowan. Freaking girl was always running off. After checking everywhere for her (now I know she was in the lounge but she was in a tiny alcove, making love to the coffee machine), I gave up and went out on deck. It was still a few hours before we'd hit land so everyone was still in their rooms, meaning the deck was all mine! Propping myself on the top of the railing, I switched the next song to _Rock N Roll _by Skrillex. Through all the dropped beats and tunes in the song, I swear I could hear something…

"Kadence"

"Kadence?"

"Kadence"

"KADENCE!"

I flipped out at the sudden voice and fell back. It would've been a good drop into the ocean if Hikaru hadn't grabbed me by the arm. For a few moments, I held on by just a hand, over my death…or the death of my perfected hair.

"You baka," he grumbled, desperately trying to hold on.

He yanked as hard as he could, flinging me back on deck a breached seal. I hit the floorboards, my headphones clattering beside me, dubstep could be faintly heard from them.

"Jeez, how high do you have these things on?" he asked, picking them up.

I looked up, noticing he was about to put them over his ears.

"Wait!" I tried to stop him but it was too late.

"KUSO!" he swore, quickly pulling the headphones off. (Kuso is a Japanese swear)

I snatched the skull headphones away, switching off the music. Nobody but Rowan and I could endure headphones at full blast.

"Thanks," I said nonchalantly, slipping the headphones back over my ears.

Then I stuck my hands in the pocket of my hoodie and started to walk off. I really hated Hikaru but if I had learned anything about hate (and believe me, I knew a lot about it, I hate all 328 kids at our school, minus Winston and Rowan), it was to not show it. That would only lead to more drama and wars. The best thing to do was walk away. Rowan had it down fairly well but still snapped now and again, thus her ranting about the twins.

"Seriously that's it?" he asked.

"What?" I turned back around.

"I just saved you from a watery grave and all I get is a 'thanks'?" he mocked my monotonous voice playfully.

_You lied about who you were over the internet to my friend, you're lucky all you're getting is a "thanks". _I thought, biting my tongue.

"What more do you want?" I asked, taking my headphones off again.

"I dunno," he laughed, walking up next to me, "I was just messing with you,"

Why was he being so nice to me? I thought he hated Rowan and I!

"Okaaaay," I chuckled, rolling my eyes.

"You're are a lot calmer than Rowan," Hikaru smiled, "Sorry about being annoying to you. I mainly just wanted to see how far I could push you until you snapped,"

"Excuse me?" I asked sharply, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah," Hikaru blushed a little, "You just seemed like nothing ever got to you and I thought I could at least make you angry like Rowan but, wow! You're good!"

I couldn't help but blush a little myself. Never in my life had I been complimented for my tolerance! I just used it on all the little bitches at school but I never thought someone would recognize it! Was Hikaru leading me on too? No…that would only work anonymously over the internet.

"I've never had someone recognize my superb love and tolerance," I blushed, instinctively pushing a bit of my hair behind my ear.

"Really? Not even Rowan?"

"She's an exception," I shrugged, "She's one of my only friends back home,"

"Really? I thought someone like you would have more friends,"

"Pffft, as if!" I retorted, "Rowan and I are the lowest tier of our school's food chain. Even our friend Winston has some status in the Chess Club,"

"What is it like back in America anyway?" Hikaru asked out of the blue.

Wow, this guy wanted to know everything! Well… it'd be too hard to shake him off, plus he'd start teasing me if I did…besides, he wasn't so bad. I wondered why he was so mean to Rowan.

"Well…" I began, "Everyone drives _everywhere_, hardly any walking,"

"What about flying?"

"Most Americans have never flown their entire life. Rowan drove 11 hours to her grandparent's last summer. In fact, our plane ride here was our first ever flight!" I explained, "It was pretty sick (in a good way). Now let's see…we're addicted to coffee. Personally, I only like frappiccinos…"

"What are those?"

"Cold coffee with tons of ice cream mixed in, a Starbucks invention. Anyways, but even teens love it. I wouldn't be surprised if that's where Rowan is right now, chugging that gross stuff down her throat."

"What about prom?"

"What?"

"I always see weird shows from America about over the top Proms but I never understand why it's such a big deal," I groaned, thinking of all the 'Proma Drama' as I called it that the seniors went through every year, "To Rowan and I, it's just another dance, but your last one at high school and you wear a ball gown. But to every other girl in the USA, it's the biggest thing ever!"

"That is so weird,"

"I know right!"

Maybe Hikaru wasn't so bad after all. Maybe he just didn't like Rowan. MAYBE I could get him to be nicer to Rowan!

"Hey Kadence?"

"Hm?"

"To make it up to you for being a jerk, how'd you like to go on a date with me?" Hikaru asked out of the blue.

"…What?"

**Quick Hikaru POV**

Kadence was a lot nicer than Rowan. She didn't try to suck up to me like everyone else did but she wasn't overly mean like Rowan. She was level-headed, taking everything in her stride. I liked that. But I knew she wouldn't like me back if I never made up for when I was a jerk to her so I decided to do what Kaoru would do, ask her out on a date. That's what he did in Karuizawa after all.

**Rowan POV**

I waited at the harbor, looking for Kadence. Sipping down the last of my coffee, I checked the time on my phone. Aunt Cindy would be there in five minutes and I still hadn't found Kadence. It had been nearly fifteen minutes since we docked! It wasn't like I was looking forward to seeing her, after all, I had some awkward news to break to her.

"Rowan!" I heard her call.

Looking to my right, I saw the female Skrillex sprinting as fast as she could, her suitcase rolling behind her. She came screeching to a halt before me, looking like she could barely wait to tell me something.

"There you are…" I was about to gripe when she cut in.

"You'll never believe what just happened to me!" she beamed.

"Uh…what?" I asked, confused at her strange enthusiasm.

"Now don't freak out ok?" she said, "But Hikaru asked me out on a date!"

She might as well have told me she purchased an elephant! What the hell?! I opened my mouth to say something of disbelief but nothing came out. I just stood there, mouth opened wide like a codfish.

"Yes, I know it's out of the blue, but he's actually really nice," she explained, "Sort of how he was to you in Realmz…so maybe he really wasn't leading you on…but anyways, that's beside the point! I'm hoping that by getting closer to him, I can get him to be less bitchy to you! Brilliant huh?"

I pinched the bridge of my nose, not sure how she'd react when I told her my news.

"Okay, Kadence…uh," I fumbled with my words, not sure how I should break it to her, "Kaoru kind of asked me on a date too,"

A glint of sadness fell into Kadence's eyes.

"I think he has a thing for me…" I admitted.

"Oh…" she said.

Her first crush in the world and he didn't even like her back.

"But wait!" she exclaimed, "I have an idea! Rowan, you've GOT to do this for me because you're my friend,"

"Sure," I shrugged.

"Let me go in your place on the date, PLEASE!" she begged.

I liked Kaoru as a friend and it would be fun to hang out with him, but I would give my time with him to Kadence happily. I wasn't going to crush her dreams anymore!

"Sure," I shrugged again, "But what about Hikaru? Are you just going to stand him up?"

"No, you'll go in his place," Kadence said simply as if the answer was obvious.

She might as well have told me she purchased two tickets to Jupiter.

* * *

**Kaoru: Next time, you guessed it: The Date Swap Part 2!**

**Rowan: I know I don't like Kaoru but a day with him would be way better than a day with Hikaru!**

**Kadence: Shhhh! We can't let them find out we're swapping their dates around!**

**Hikaru: Hm?**

**Rowan: Gah! Buzz off! Stop listening in on the ending preview!**

**Hikaru: -bites tongue-**

**Kadence: The two of you are bound to erupt...**


	13. The Date Swap Part 2

**So sorry updates have been slow but my inspiration went on vacation. Shout out to Guest, Katara 665, Master of Me 101, Fabia Sheen Girl, Halfway-Insane, and Update soon for their support and slaps to the face to wake me up. Sorry I'm a bit apathetic about my stories atm but I've only just finished a ton of hospital visits that have been going on since the start of the Summer time so I've been lying around enjoying my freedom a bit too much (Example: ate an entire bag of mini donuts while playing Elder Scrolls Online this morning). Luckily, I have a few excess chapters. Enjoy.**

* * *

"Rowan,"

Flick.

"Rowan,"

Flick.

"Rowan."

"STOP FLICKING BREAD CRUMS AT ME!" I screamed at Kadence from across the dinner table.

My crazed voice echoed through my aunt's marble dining hall, disturbing its pristine peace. Kadence was laughing at me sudden outburst, making a vein bulge from my head.

"I _finally _got you to stop giving me the cold shoulder!" Kadence laughed.

I scowled, turning away from her again, "You can't blame me,"

"Is this about the date swap we arranged yesterday?" she asked playfully, clearly not taking the situation seriously.

To her, it would be a jolly old time with Kaoru but she had no idea how weird, awkward, annoying, sexual tension-y, and stressful my date would be! I was more than happy to let her have Kaoru but I was NOT happy with me thrust at Hikaru! Kadence noticed my silence and flicked another piece of toast at me. I growled in annoyance as the crumb bounced off my forehead.

"_Yes. Kadence. It is,_" I glowered.

It was only our first day back to school after the cruise and I was already incurring my wrath upon her.

"Miss Steen, Miss Keith," a voice interrupted us, "Your limo is ready,"

With a huff, I got up from the breakfast table, grabbed my backpack and stormed out the door, my uniform heels clacking as I went.

"Well what do you want me to do, Rowan?" Kadence asked defensively, hot on my heels.

"I was generous enough to let you take my place on a date with Kaoru and you repay me by setting me up with a dick!" I snapped, climbing into the black limo.

Kadence climbed in, sitting opposite of me, her dress messily pooling around her (she was never really good with formal attire).

"I _am_ grateful," she said, "But _what do you want me to do_? Hikaru was really sweet to me and it'd be rude to just let him be stood up!"

"So _I'm _your backup?!" I shouted.

"Who else am I going ask!?" Kadence shot back.

It was true. She had no other friends.

"Hikaru and I made an agreement to never speak to each other again!" I shot back.

"Well you better get used to speaking to him again," Kadence retorted, putting on her earphones, "Because I've never heard of a silent date before,"

"I wish there was such a thing…" I grumbled as I too put on my headphones.

As silly and childish Hikaru and I's agreement sounded, it actually turned out pretty well! We just ignored each other, simple. We were going to let the memory fade. I was not looking forward to having to breaking that at all. Unfortunately, I didn't see coming the event that would make our date even more full of awkward tension. What led up to the event was me bending our deal. I wasn't exactly…breaking our deal…I mean, nothing said that I couldn't…casually glance at him.

I still couldn't shake that feeling that I had for him when I knew him in Realmz. It was only the first period on the first day back from the cruise and I was already bending the deal at him from under my red hair. His slender fingers wrapped around his ballpoint pen, scribbling math notes into his notebook. His distant hazel eyes darted from the chalk board to his notes. I slapped myself in the face, forcing myself back into the math lesson but my blue eyes drifted back to him.

Bam! The hazel eyes whipped towards mine. In a panic, I turned back to the lesson once more, my face turning red. Carefully and curiously, I looked back to him. Shoot! His eyes were still there, lingering on mine in that unamused irritated glare he always had. I looked away, flustered all over again.

_Damn it! Stick to the deal! …But still. Staring at him is far better entertainment than math class._

I crept my eyes back over towards him. He had gone back to working until he looked up again, death in his eyes. He was getting annoyed. This time, when I looked away, I leaned on my right arm so as not to be tempted to look at him again.

* * *

"Rowan,"

Flick.

"Rowan,"

Flick.

"Rowan,"

_Not this again._

I clenched my fists, about to scream at Kadence but I quickly shut my mouth when I remembered we were in Ouran's refectory and everyone would hear me. I sighed, facepalming as I tried to suppress my anger.

"Can't you do anything else to get my attention other than flicking bread crumbs at me?" I asked through gritted teeth.

"Well I've been trying," Kadence sighed exasperatedly, "But you just ignore me and so far, flicking stuff at you is the only effective way to get your attention,"

I just went back to my lunch angrily.

"Please don't ignore me anymore, Rowan," Kadence whined, "I'm sorry, okay? But like I said, there's nothing I can do!"

I stood up, my chair scraping against the marble.

"You could start by getting someone else to be subjected to torture at other people's expense!" I hissed at her.

With that, I walked away, leaving my half eaten lunch behind.

_Wait…_

I shuffled back to the table, wrapped my brownie in a napkin, and then shuffled off again. Now I could leave. The courtyards of Ouran were well deserted during lunch, especially on a cloudy day. I swore I heard distant thunder. Looking for a quiet place to sit, I felt my white high heel get caught on something. To this day, I still don't know what it was I tripped on. A garden hose, a rock, a root, an armadillo? Whatever the case, I faceplanted and proceeded to tumble down a small hill until I fell on my butt on what felt like stone.

"Fuck," I cringed as I got up.

I checked myself for any cuts but luckily, I only found bruises (very purple ones but at least I wasn't bleeding). Then I looked at my surroundings and was shocked at what I found. Somehow, my clumsiness had landed me in a stone gazebo with an umbrella roof. It was even covered heavily with trees and shrubs so you wouldn't find it unless you tripped like me. A circular ledge jutted all the way around, forming one long bench in the gazebo. A circular stone jutted out form the center, forming a table. I think I just found my new hideaway.

_But I'll have to trip over whatever it was I tripped over to get here…_

I noticed a narrow path leading back to the school.

…_Or I could just take the path that I neglected._

I plopped onto the bench, kicking my chafing high heels off and slamming my head on the stone table in exhaustion, giving me another bruise. My hair was in knots with grass here and there, my butt hurt, I had bruises galore all over me…and now it was raining. Oh well, at least I was in a gazebo. But this was no ordinary rain. Oh no, no, that would make my life too easy. This was full on, "cherubs pouring buckets of rainwater from heaven while kicking up a fierce wind" rainstorm! I groaned in annoyance, hugging my knees to my chest and letting my blistered feet cool on the stone bench.

_Oh well. _I thought. _At least I have my brownie!_

I nommed up the brownie and it made me feel a lot better! Chocolate always does the trick.

"Perfect timing too," I chirped happily, checking my phone, "Lunch is almost over,"

I was about to get up when I noticed IT WAS STILL RAINING!

"Oh come on!" I shrieked as a clap of thunder drowned out my voice.

I did want to maintain a good reputation with my history teacher, but I wasn't about to run out in the middle of a fucking shit storm for it! I'd just have to be late for class.

"It'll go away soon I'm sure…" I muttered to myself nervously, hugging my knees tighter and rocking back and forth.

As I waited, I laid my head down on the table, watching the rain rush from the sky in a frenzy. My eyes grew heavy from a combination of stress and the peaceful lull of thunder.

* * *

**Sirana: Snnoooooooore**

**Kadence: Hey! Author! Wake the fuck up! You're writing is getting really lazy!**

**Rowan: Snooooooooore**

**Kadence: Not you too! Twins help me!**

**Twins: -begins poking Sirana-**

**Sirana: -uses electricity breath-**

**Twins: -hide in corner-**

**Kadence: Oh Sirana's inspiration, please come back soon...Next time...whenever it is...Chapter 14: The Date Swap Part 3...**


	14. The Date Swap Part 3

**Huge shout out to nightowlofdoom for her beautiful review! Shout out to the other first time reviewers: eatmorehateless and Guest. Btw, you should get an account here, you don't even have to post stories, that way I can respond to your reviews and answer any questions you have about my stories!**

* * *

(Listen to heavy rain on ytube for full effect)

**Kadence POV**

"It'll go away soon, I'm sure," I heard Haruhi say.

I turned from the window to Haruhi who sat behind me. We had all gone back to class after lunch and were now waiting on our history teacher to show up but I was also waiting for Rowan. Ever since the rain started, I was worried about her because when she stormed off, I saw her heading for the courtyards.

"You ok, Haruhi?" I asked, noticing an improvement in my Japanese.

"Huh?" Haruhi jumped, "Uh…y-yeah!"

As a bolt of lightning struck on the horizon, Haruhi jumped again. Looking down two seats to my right, I saw the Hitachiin twins who also looked worried. They didn't seem to be concerned about the storm but about Haruhi. Kaoru had his laptop out, checking the radar while his brother arched his neck to see. The two occasionally glanced back at Haruhi to see if he was alright. It was sweet how they looked out for their friend.

"Hey…Haruhi?" I tried to get his mind off the storm, "Have you seen Rowan?"

"Uh…" Haruhi grimaced, still looking out the window warily, "No. Class is about to start so she should be here,"

"Oh alright," I sighed, "I'm just really worried. The last I saw her, she left lunch early and headed outside,"

At this, Kaoru looked up from his laptop, more worry on his face than ever before. I felt a pang of jealousy over the concern Kaoru had for Rowan. But what was this? Although Hikaru didn't show any noticeable signs of worry, I did see his irked eyes soften for a second and slide over towards me at the news.

"I really want to go look for her…" I murmured to myself, looking back out the window.

"At least wait for the rain to let up," I heard Hikaru say.

Now when I looked back at him, I saw a bit more worry, but I could tell it was for me. I think he seriously liked me.

"Oh, Rowan," I whispered to myself, turning back to the window, "Please don't do anything stupid,"

**Rowan POV**

(Listen to bird tweeting background sounds for full effect)

The sound of dripping rain water and tweeting birds woke me from my sleep. My ears rang from the heavy sound the rain had made and my eyes were hit with a hot humidity when they opened. For a stressful week, this had been a great quick getaway. As my blue eyes scanned the entrance to the hidden gazebo, I saw him there. His maroon scales, devil tail, black wings, devil horns, and sharp fangs.

"Urakih?" I muttered as I slowly raised my head.

"What?" the lizard flinched at his name, flicking his tail.

I blinked the sleep out of my mind, and Urakih became Hikaru. For a few seconds, I gazed at him like I had all first period until I realized how impatient he was getting.

"Oh, uh!" I stammered, "Did I miss history class?"

"And Japanese," he added.

"Huh?"

"Japanese class just ended," he elaborated.

…I blinked again, still drowsy…

"Gah!" I exclaimed, "That means school's out!? Aw shit!"

"You know you had Kaoru and Kadence worried sick," Hikaru scolded me, "They barely paid any attention in history class or Japanese class,"

"Oops," I muttered, rubbing my eyes.

"What were you even doing out here?" he asked rudely, like I was insane.

I crossed my arms and huffed, "Eating lunch. Then it started raining and I got stranded out here,"

"And then you fell asleep?" he asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

I only nodded. There was a silence, filled with the cry of a bird.

"Well…" Hikaru said awkwardly, "I better get you back, you know, before Kadence has a cow,"

"K," I said simply, hopping off the stone bench, and putting my heels back on.

Just as I walked past him, he just had to bring it up!

"And why were you staring at me?" he asked accusingly.

"What?" I asked, playing dumb.

"You were staring at me like a stalker during every period before lunch," he said bluntly.

"Can't you just leave it alone?" I asked curtly.

"No, I can't," he snapped, "Because you disobeyed me. I said that I didn't want anything to do with you anymore but you decided to creepily glare at me like a freak!"

"Are you my father or something?!" I retorted, getting up in his face, "That was an _agreement. _Not an order! And also, aren't we breaking the agreement right now just by talking to one another!? And while on the topic of not leaving conflict alone, why did you call me a bitch?"

"What?" he asked, glancing around nervously.

He didn't expect me to bring that up.

"After we made our agreement, you muttered something under your breath in Japanese that I didn't know how to translate," I told him, "Well, I looked it up, and you called me a bitch! Right after we made an agreement never to speak again, you go off and call me a _bitch_!"

"Don't you swear all the time? What's the big deal?" he asked, becoming progressively more irked.

"I want to know why you called me a bitch!" I demanded.

"Because you are one!" he finally snapped, getting up in _my_ face, our foreheads pressed together in a standoff.

"What did I do to be a bitch?!" I barked.

"You're whiny, annoying, American, a commoner, ignorant, shall I go on?!" he shouted right back.

I pointed a finger at him, making him back up a little.

"Well you're Asian, irritating, haughty, snobby, sexy-"

I stopped as soon as I said the last word. Oh shit…did I REALLY just say that? Fuck. It was just like when I learned he was Urakih and I was Kazuli, we both froze for a long silence, our faces at the temperature of a volcano. His hazel eyes were wide in shock, staring back at me. But it was weird, if Hikaru had meant anything he said, he would've laughed at my slip up, but instead, he looked at me in denial, a huge blush across his face. So, did that mean…

Hikaru, red faced and awkward looking, walked past me, muttering "Come on". I stiffly followed after him, keeping a few steps back. And that was the event that made our date all the more awkward.

* * *

**Kadence: Is it just me...or is there a lot of awkward sexual tension between you two?**

**Rowan and Hikaru: THERE IS NOT!**

**Kadence: Yep, definitely...heheheheh, just like in Jane Eyre...**

**Rowan: Next time in Chapter 15, we get to see how the beginning of Rowan and Hikaru's date goes in The Date Swap Part 4!**


	15. The Date Swap Part 4

**SO sorry for the the lack of updates! I've hit a bit of a block but I'm trying to get over it. Before I do the shout outs, I have a few announcements. First of all, the Axent Wear I mention in this chapter is real, look it up. I rly want it to come out but just a disclaimer, i don't own it! Also, I started doing a little moderation with the guest reviews telling me to hurry up. I don't mind guest reviews, I allow them because I was once a guest, too scared to get an account but still wanted to review. So I want to give you guys that privilege. But I had to remove some of the guest reviews because they were starting to get a little threatening and annoying, telling me to update. Please understand that I will still let guests review but I will remove them if they continue this way.**

**Okay! NOW for the shout outs. Shout out to I Hate Boys 5907, Lol, and 15samcre. 15samcre had a good question that I wanted to answer but she had PMs disabled, so I'll answer it here. Hikaru likes Kadence, Kaoru likes Rowan. Kadence likes Kaoru, Rowan hates Hikaru and likes Kaoru as a friend. Hikaru isn't interested in Rowan however I've been giving you hints that he has feelings for her but is denying it. Same with Rowan, she kind of likes Hikaru too but is denying it.**

**YAY! Time for the new chapter!**

* * *

I bottled up the mascara and looked back in the mirror. It was weird seeing myself in makeup, I scarcely wore it at all! I didn't feel like myself. Well, at least Youtube makeup tutorials actually do work! Backing up, I saw myself in full. I wore a white tank top with a pink sweater over it and a black skirt along with gold hoop earings.

_I can't believe my very first date is going to be stolen by a prick I don't even want to go on a date with! _I fumed in my head.

"You ready?" Kadence asked, popping her head into the bathroom.

She was beaming with her polished hipster glasses. She had silver ball earrings, a long sleeved black shirt and skinny jeans. She also had about three fake silver necklaces and two cheap rings. She was such a hipster.

"Why do I have to look all pretty for my enemy?" I groaned.

"It's a date," Kadence rolled her eyes, "You have to look somewhat presentable,"

I stuck my tongue out in annoyance.

"Now come on let's go!" Kadence squealed in delight.

Of course a crazed romantic would be excited for her first date. And here I was, throwing away my first date on her account. I loved her too much.

"Hopefully they won't be too pissed that we swapped with them," I hoped aloud.

_At least I'll be able to watch Hikaru's disappointment when I tell him Kadence left him for Kaoru._

I milled through the busy city streets, following my phone's GPS. It guided me to the café I was supposed to meet my date at decently with only a few super long cross walks along the way. When I walked into the outdoor café, I spotted him immediately. He had an expectant look in his eyes, searching the crowds that walked by with a hope that Kadence would be there. But I crushed all that hope when I stopped in front of his table and he saw me. His expression changed to that of confusion and "Oh my God, you have got to be kidding me."

"R-Rowan!?" he gasped, "But where's Kadence?!"

"Tough news," I smirked, "She swapped dates with me so she could hang out with Kaoru,"

"W-what?!"

"I'm not too happy about it either, she shoved me on you against my will," I cut him off, "So we can totally bail right now if you want,"

Behind my smug face, I was begging. _Please say yes, please say yes, please say yes…_

"I wish I could," Hikaru growled, looking over his shoulder, "But I'm convinced the rest of the Host Club is evaluating me,"

**Audience POV**

Tamaki, Kyoya, Honey, and Mori all sat in a remote corner of the outdoor café, menus hiding their faces.

"Hikaru puts on an act in the Host Club, why do we need to evaluate him on what he's like in real life?" Kyoya complained.

"I need to see how he's improved since Haruhi's date," Tamaki whispered back.

"Judging by the sudden date swap, there may be none," Kyoya muttered under his breath.

"One ice cream please," Honey was already getting into the café's sweets.

**Rowan POV**

"But why would they…" I began to ask.

"Don't ask ok?" Hikaru cut me off. (Obviously it's because they want to make sure Haruhi's first date isn't repeated)

I looked to where he was glancing before. They probably didn't trust Hikaru. Neither did I.

"So where do you wanna go?" I asked, my hopes of weaseling my way out crushed.

Hikaru sighed and got up from the table, "Well I had planned on taking Kadence to a fancy book store and then to the art museum, but…"

"But those all sound boring," I rolled my eyes, "How about…"

I dragged the reluctant twin through the bustling crowds until I stopped us in front of a music store. I think the name of it was supposed to be some kind of Japanese pun but I couldn't be troubled to translate.

"Don't you already have headphones?" Hikaru asked.

"Yeah, but the kind I've been looking for have only been released in Japan and they're super pricey," I explained, walking into the store.

Vinyl records hung on the walls while One Republic played in the background. I bee-lined straight for the headphones section, skipped past all the cheap earbuds, and found at the very back of the shelf, only a few of them left. They were headphones with cat ear speakers at the top that allowed you to share the music you were listening to with others or not and listen through the headphones. They were called Axent Wear and ever since Realmz added them in as an accessory, I wanted the real thing.

"These actually exist?" Hikaru asked, "I thought it was a Realmz creation,"

I looked at him with curious eyes, probably because that was the first time I had heard him mention Realmz since I knew him as Urakih. He looked back at me with his usual crude eyes until he realized what he just mentioned and looked away stiffly.

"Yep," I answered bluntly and took them to the counter.

"Do you have enough money for that? You don't exactly come from a rich family," Hikaru scoffed.

I just held out my hand to him without even glancing back at him.

"Nope, you're going to pay,"

"W-what?! You can't just…" he began to object when I pointed out the shop window towards four men in trench coats.

It was the remainder of the Host Club in disguises.

"Fine," he scowled, handing me a wad of cash.

"I've got kitty speakers!" I squealed as I put the Axent headphones on.

Kadence was going to be so jealous! When we got back outside, I turned to Hikaru who already looked like he was pushed to his limit! I thought this date was going to be hell and it was pretty annoying but it was all worth it to harass Hikaru.

"You ok?" I laughed at him.

He glanced around suspiciously or a moment before taking my hand. It was his turn to drag me through the city.

"We're gonna ditch em," he muttered.

And with that, he yanked me down an alley way, diving in and out of interconnecting passages. And for a scrawny Asian kid, he was pretty speedy! I actually couldn't keep up with him!

"Hikaru, slow down!" I demanded.

No response.

"We've run far enough!" I tried again.

Still nothing, he didn't even turn around to acknowledge me. But it wasn't me in the end that stopped him, but a dead end. He stopped so suddenly that I bashed right into him (luckily I only bounced back, would not want to fall on a mucky alleyway floor)!

"We're lost aren't we?" I grunted.

"No we're not," Hikaru lied, looking around him.

I just crossed my arms and looked at him skeptically.

"I know exactly where we are," Hikaru lied again, walking past me.

"Ooookaaaaay," I said slyly, "Then which way do we go?"

He looked left, then right, then forward. After a long pause, he pointed right and started walking. What is with men and admitting they're lost? I followed him down the right alley and I could tell he found the whole setting repulsive. Damn rich kids, hadn't they ever seen a backstreet before? I guess not. Me being a "Commoner", I was used to it all, having to out the trash in them and playing in them since I was a kid. Looks like we'd be wondering around in them for a long time…thanks Hikaru.

* * *

**Rowan: Just kill me...**

**Kadence: Heehee, there are two more parts!**

**Rowan: WHAT?! You told me there were four!**

**Kadence: I lied~**

**Rowan: Grrr...**

**Kadence: Next time in Chapter 16, the Date Swap Part 5, we get so see how my date goes!**


	16. The Date Swap Part 5

**Warning: the following chapter contains total adorable fluff. It may even cause pink fluffy unicorns dancing on rainbows to join you as you read. Reader discretion in advised.**

**Okay, not really but this is a very fluffy chapter and I drew a lot of inspiration on from a visit to my local art museum recently! Anyways, shout out to eatmorehateless for the first time review and I'm sorry the last chapter was short ^^'.**

* * *

**Kadence POV**

"K-Kadence?!"

"Heya!" I sang.

Kaoru looked cute when he was surprised! As soon as I walked into his house, that adorable, wide eyed, shocked expression spread across his face.

"Uh…I don't understand," he said embarrassedly, scratching the back of his neck.

"Rowan and I date swapped," I said cheerily.

"So…Rowan is with…" he guessed.

"Yep, she really wanted to swap out with me!"

_Yeah right. _Kaoru thought. _There's no way Rowan would willingly go out with Hikaru._

"Well…I did have stuff planned but it was mainly for Rowan…"

"Pffft, don't worry I've planned out everything myself!" I laughed, dragging him out the door.

I swear, if anyone from my school saw me, they'd think I wasn't Kadence. I had never been so happy around another person besides Rowan before. I could feel all of the old Victorian romance books coming to life around me!

* * *

"The art museum?" Kaoru asked, looking at the formidable, white building before him.

"Yeah!" I smiled, "Pretty sweet huh?"

"Yeah!" he chimed back, giving me a cheeky smile.

I felt myself blush. Damn it, he's so cute. We strolled right in, no charge, and rich people say you can only have fun by spending money! But I was a little surprised that the beginning part of the museum was filled with…modern art…oh dear. Once again, the common 'emo girl-hipster-dubstep' stereotype would be that we totally get modern art and we can just 'sense its vibe, man'. But me, being a die heart romantic, hated it. First thing on display: a circle.

Oh boy, a circle! Now yes, I do have a fascination with circles (as I demonstrated on the cruise) but even the epicness of a singular circle can't be passed off as art! And then there was a collection of random stripes on canvases, cut up a few times with scissors and thrown all over the floor. Art everybody, behold its glory. **(Disclaimer: This is not meant to offend anyone into modern art or any modern art. It is simply Kadence Steen's opinion.)**

_You've got to be kidding me. _I thought.

Kaoru, however seemed pretty interested in the exhibit, reading each description of each piece. And here I thought he only liked the classics. Maybe if I could just move him along and get him into the Renaissance part of the museum. We had just stopped in front of a ball of glued together trash you'd find at a junk yard, when I spotted one of those special exhibits that travel from museum to museum and charge you extra to go in. This one was titled "The Rebirth: French Impressionism".

_Fuck yes!_

I tapped Kaoru on the shoulder, distracting him from the totally amazing ball of junk and nodding my head towards the exhibit entrance.

"Oh, you like French Impressionists?" he asked.

"Duh," I rolled my eyes playfully, "Come on!"

"Ok, I'll pay for…" he started to say.

"Nah, no need to pay," I waved my hand dismissively at the idea.

"But…how else are we going to get in?" Kaoru asked, looking at me confused.

"How do you think I get into special exhibits in California's art museum without any money?" I kept him guessing.

"Uh…" he scratched his orange hair, still puzzled.

Just then, a large tour group caught my eye, filled with natives and foreigners alike. Perfect!

"Ok, follow me and act natural," I winked to him.

I drug him into the crowd of tourists as they walked into the special exhibit, the tour guide handing their own ticket to the clerk to let the whole group in. Once inside, I yanked us from the crowd to see the exhibit clearly. I had never seen such an expansive collection of French Impressionism! I gravitated to any piece that spoke to me, Kaoru at my side. Just as he appreciated classical literature, he also appreciated classical art. At one point, I stopped in front of a painting called "Deer in a Pine Forest" by Gustave Dore when I heard some of the security guards talking. Kaoru didn't seem to notice and was still staring at the enthralling nature scene before us, but I turned my head ever so slightly to see the security guards checking tickets. As an experienced exhibit sneaker…whatever you want to call a girl who sneaks into exhibits you have to pay to see…I knew exactly what to do and having Kaoru there made it all the easier.

Slowly and gingerly, I grabbed his hand, holding it with mine like a couple would. He looked over at me with a little surprise in his eyes…and maybe a bit of a blush…but before he could ask anything, I whispered, "Just play along." Then, he noticed the security guards and shifted a little closer to me, letting me rest my head on his shoulder. I wished it could be like that all the time. The guards disregarded us as a couple that didn't want to be disturbed as we stared in unison at "Deer in a Pine Forest". When the guards had finished their check, Kaoru could've dropped the act, but he didn't! I wasn't sure if he didn't know he could drop the act or he was doing it because he liked it. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it. I felt like a true Lady in the 1800s, being taken to an art gallery with her suitor. Omg, did I really just say that?! I'm so sappy…

When we got to the end of the exhibit, we sped walked as far away from it as we could until we stopped in a small room with a few paintings and then we burst into stifled laughter.

"That was terrifying!" Kaoru laughed as he leaned against a wall, clutching his stomach, "We could've gotten caught!"

"It's the thrill of the hunt," I giggled.

Kaoru looked at me with his hazelnut eyes then took my hand like I had his. I looked down at our hands, my face heating up then looked back up at him. He still had that sincere smile that he always had, the one that made him so much different from his brother, the one that I recognized as his.

When I saw the sign for the Papua New Guinea exhibit in the basement, I just had to see it! Strangely enough, Papua New Guinea art wasn't very popular and not many people were down there, plus the lights were incredibly dim. I knew I liked it from the start when we walked into the eerie room, filled with huge, demented masks and shriveled up sculptures. It was just like a haunted house!

"This is kinda creepy," Kaoru gulped as he looked around uneasily.

"What was that?!" I squealed.

"What?! Where?!"

"Hahahahahaha!" I laughed, "I got you!"

"Not funny," he shivered nervously.

Rolling my eyes with a smirk, I turned to a long, black and white mask with slanted eye holes.

"Creepy down here, huh?" I smirked.

"Yeah, I've never actually been down here before," he said, looking at the mask too.

While he was distracted, I slipped away, down the hall.

**Quick Kaoru POV**

I looked up from the mask, noticing Kadence had gone missing. I looked around me but didn't see her anywhere.

"Kadence?" I called.

From the end of the hall, I heard a high pitched giggling. Cautiously, I walked towards the chortling, trying to see around the corner.

"K-Kadence?"

As I slowly rounded the corner, I flinched at the sight of a wooden totem pole with a demon-like creature painted on it. Clutching my chest in relief that it was only art, I turned around.

**Kadence POV**

"RAWR!" I screamed, putting my hands up like a zombie.

"GAAAH!" Kaoru shrieked in a surprisingly high-pitched scream.

It took him a few minutes to calm down and a few more for me to stop laughing.

"Th-that was s-scary!" he shook.

"You are SO easy to scare," I laughed.

"Someone down here? Who's making all that noise?" we heard a security guard down the hall.

We looked at each other with glances that said "oh shoot!" and bolted down the hall, mummified looking hunchbacks and carved faces flew past us as we ran. Finally, we reached the stairs, climbed them as fast as we could and found ourselves back where we started: at the modern art section. We quickly went out the door, starting our laughter all over again!

"We've gotten into so much trouble today!" Kaoru laughed.

"Oh come on!" I laughed along, "I've gotten into far more trouble before!"

My mind flashbacked to when my brother bailed me out for blaring my Skrillex too loud in a parking lot. Then, I went back to reality when I felt Kaoru's warm hand in mine again. I looked over to him. He was smiling, so I smiled too.

"I'll take you home," he said sincerely.

"Thanks,"

* * *

**Rowan: Looks like Kadence is starting to grow on you~**

**Kaoru: Y-yeah...-blushes-**

**Kadence: -blushes-**

**Hikaru: I think we have bigger problems to worry about other than blushing.**

**Rowan: WTF?! When did all these pink fluffy unicorns get here!**

**Hikaru: Next time in Chapter 17, The Date Swap Part 6, Rowan and I argue. Big shocker.**

**Rowan: And thank God it's the last part of the Date Swap, no tricks this time folks, it's the last part!**


	17. The Date Swap Part 6

**Shout out to Blissful Girl 76, Guest, and Cardfighter By Maple!**

* * *

"Kuso," Hikaru muttered as he took his cell phone from his ear again.

He had tried calling Tamaki, Kyoya, and just then, Mori. He didn't have Honey's number for whatever reason.

"Nice," I muttered under my breath.

"Oh, what?" he snapped, "Like you have a better idea?"

I looked away bitterly. I didn't. Hikaru groaned, slouching against the cement wall with me. He stayed that way for about a minute until I tried another desperate idea.

"We could ask for directions?" I suggested.

"From who?" Hikaru asked in an annoyed tone, "We've barely seen anyone here,"

"But we have seen _some _people," I corrected him.

He rolled his eyes, "We are not asking directions from a homeless person,"

_What is it with men and asking for directions?_

"Alright, what about those graffiti artists?" I tried again.

"So we can get mugged?" Hikaru narrowed his eyes at me.

True, the ones I knew at school were boyfriends to the girls who hunted Kadence and I. They were probably just as mean in Japan and plus, I didn't know how to talk like a gangster in Japanese.

"How long have we been out here?" he asked without bothering to look at me.

Checking my phone, I answered, "About fifteen minutes,"

"This wouldn't've happened if Kadence were here," Hikaru grumbled

"Kadence left you, duh," I scowled.

"Oh shut up, American," Hikaru scowled right back.

"Hey, you've been beating up on me for being an American ever since I came here! What's with that?!" I turned to him, stomping my foot.

Hikaru looked at me with his unamused, irritated eyes.

"Simple. Ignorant tourists who don't even bother to learn a country's native language shouldn't even be in that country in the first place," Hikaru explained cruelly, "Besides, you're one of those annoying Americans who expects everything be given to them,"

"Oh yeah, well you're one of those evil natives who makes the experience for foreigners completely awful. They're suckish, selfish…"

I stopped myself midway, remembering the last time I went on a rant of all the things Hikaru was. Damn it, why did that awkward moment had to happen in the gazebo, it just made this day all the more off! He seemed to know what I was thinking of too as he blushed a little. That was weird, the jerk I knew would go to town on that, milking out every bit of it to make fun of me, not take it like a guy in sexual tension. Wait…

"Just shut up, ok?" Hikaru growled, starting to walk off.

"Oh what, like you can order me around?" I sassed.

He stopped and turned around, "Just shut up, _Rowan_,"

This froze me for a few seconds, it was the first time he called me by name! I quickly recovered with a retaliation.

"No! I won't!"

"Well you blabbing on won't help us get out of these alleys!"

"Fine by me but don't order me around!"

"I'm not I just asked you to be quiet!"

"Oh, really? That sounded more like a demand if you ask me!"

"I WASN'T asking you!"

"See! There you go again, acting like you're above me!"

"I am above you, commoner!"

I felt like we were in combat in Realmz all over again. It made me feel that I wasn't helpless or powerless to him, I could stand a chance to him in Realmz any day!

"I can still kick your ass!"

"We are NOT in Realmz anymore, Kazuli!" he finally shouted, his voice travelling through the silent alley ways.

That was also the first time he mentioned Kazuli since he found out about me being her. And he was right, we weren't in Realmz anymore and I'd probably never face off against him in it ever again. We both stood there, our breath heavy from shouting but we were now shut up from the sudden mention of Realmz. I felt a softness creep into my eyes, I missed the old days and for a moment, Hikaru's eyes looked sad too. Did he also miss when we were a happy couple in Realmz? I think I was starting to understand why we hated each other so much.

"Forget it," I said quickly, crossing my arms, "I'll find my own way home. I think we've lost the rest of the Host Club now so we can go our separate ways and say we just went to the movies or something when they ask,"

I began taking my separate way, and when I was a few yards away from Hikaru, I heard him start to walk off too and mutter, "Meinu," (bitch)

This time, I knew what he meant and I felt so DAMN ANGRY that my eyes filled with tears, I snatched an empty soda can from the ground and hurled it as hard as I could at him. Of course, because I skip out on PE class, my reflexes suck so the can just missed his head! He turned around in shock but I turned around again, storming off again.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaagh!" I screamed in anger, filling the alleys with my estrogen.

After a few minutes, I finally got better cell service and was able to access the internet. From there, I got a GPS signal and found my way back to my aunt's limo. Part of me, the one that wanted to love him, told me to call and make sure he had found his way. But the other part, the one that wanted to hate him, told me to let him rot in that alley for all I cared! I trudged into the mansion, my hair now a rat's nest and my eyes screaming "don't mess with me". Kadence must've been still out with Kaoru because she wasn't back yet so I just threw myself onto our bed and groaned into the mattress. So far, life hadn't been any different from what it was in California. Except this time, rather than have bullies, my life's meaning was flipped upside-down by a dick who, somehow, I kept being thrown back at him! But yet…I had learned something today. I was starting to understand why we hated each other so much. We loved each other in the game, but we hated each other in real life and when we learned that we loved the person we hated, we didn't want to accept that we had ever loved them. So instead, we were stuck in a loop of love hate.

At least, that's how I felt, I didn't know if Hikaru felt the same way at the time.

**Audience POV (Setting: Hitachiin Manor)**

Kaoru laid on the bed, mashing away on his 3DS when Hikaru walked in. His face was exhausted and he looked like he had had a long day!

"Uh, hey," Kaoru said carefully, "How was the surprise date swap for you?"

"Were you in on it too?" Hikaru grumbled.

"No!" Kaoru said quickly, "It was a shock for me too! So…how did it go with Rowan?"

Kaoru knew Hikaru's…awkward relationship with Rowan and was expecting the worst.

"It was fine," Hikaru lied stiffly, remembering how Rowan told him to pretend that their date went well, "How was yours with Kadence.

Kaoru shut his 3DS, knowing that Hikaru liked Kadence, but she didn't feel the same way. This would be rough.

"It was good," Kaoru smiled nervously, "I'm starting to get to know Kadence a lot better now,"

There was no response from Kaoru's brother for a moment.

"You can have her," he finally said gritting his teeth and shutting his eyes.

"W-what?" Kaoru asked.

"Look, it won't be the first time I had to let someone I love go!" Hikaru snapped.

I knew all too well who he was referring to. Both of us wanted Haruhi for ourselves but we knew she'd be happier with Tamaki, so we let her go. If there was some way I could make Hikaru happy, I'd do it! But Kadence wanted me, and I was starting to want her too. A little.

"Hikaru, I'm sorry…"

"Just forget it!" he shouted, running out of the room and slamming the door behind him.

To him, Rowan had done nothing but make his life miserable since she came, so he'd do everything he could to push her away.

* * *

**Kadence: Angst, angst, angst, huh?**

**Rowan: Next time in Chapter 18, Japan is Weird, you'll get a few hints on my past! It's a bit of a filler but there are some important hints. However, it'll all be explained later so you can skip over the next chapter if u want.**

**Hikaru and Kaoru: See you next time!**


	18. Japan is Weird

**Shout out to Picandy for aall their wonderful reviews! This chapter is a bit filler but does give some hints to Rowan's past so you don't have to read this but if you want some hints to Rowan, you should read it!**

* * *

"Japan is so weird," I said, scrolling through a school email sent out.

It had been a week since the notorious "Date Swap" and I swore never to agree to another one ever again. Hikaru and I stayed our distance, fulfilling our agreement of not having to do anything with each other. And so far, fate hadn't been throwing us in any more awk situations! Yay! For a while, I thought the rest of my stay in Japan would be what it was intended to be: a peaceful get away from home. For a while. Until this happened.

"Yes, Rowan, I know," Kadence said nonchalantly from the day bed at the other end of our room as she scrolled through Tumblr.

"Then have you checked your email?" I asked.

"Not in a few hours, no," Kadence grunted back in her usual laid back tone.

"Well come over here and check this out!" I urged her.

She put her headphones and laptop down then walked over to the bed where I sat. I pointed to the school email which I lazily used Google Translate to read.

"Physical Exams?" Kadence repeated from the message with a puzzled face, "What is this, Nazi Germany?"

"Apparently they have this every year," I explained, "But why don't they have personalized, separate ones like in America?"

"Well if you hadn't already noticed, we aren't in America anymore," Kadence laughed.

I rolled my eyes at her cheekiness then asked, "When was the last time you've had a checkup, though?"

"Uuuuuuuh…" Kadence calculated in her head rather slowly (she sucked at math), "Like…when I was about eleven…"

"THAT'S FIVE YEARS!" I screamed in disbelief, "How did they even let you into Ouran Academy!?"

Kadence shrugged casually, "I dunno, maybe they over looked it. Ah well, I never minded getting too many shots!"

"Well you best be ready to get tons because you haven't had an appointment for FIVE YEARS! I guess your dad never took you?"

"Yep," Kadence said, pushing a bit of her black hair behind her ear, "That and our school in California couldn't care less about medical records,"

"True that," I remembered our hellish school.

I'd say that Ouran was a slight better change, class wise. But social wise, no.

* * *

"So what's the deal with these school sponsored 'Physical Exams'?" I asked Haruhi, leaning close on his desk curiously.

"I was a little confused at first too," Haruhi laughed, "It's only my second year doing this and from what I've learned, just be prepared for overly smiley doctors and nurses,"

"Oh boy…" Kadence groaned.

"I'm used to stuff like that," I shrugged, "My mom's a nurse after all,"

"Really?" Haruhi asked.

Just then a voice came over the loud speakers which I translated to, "All 2nd years please report the main hall for Physical Exams"

"Let's get this over with," Kadence sighed.

We walked down the pink hallways to a set of double doors, which when flung open, revealed a line of doctors and a line of nurses, all smiley and welcoming. But a bit too much so. I saw the hospital my mom worked in and it had good customer service but THIS was crazy!

"Like I said, overly smiley," he laughed, walking into the hall.

I gripped Kadence's hand nervously until a nurse dressed like a Sailor Moon medical student walked up to me.

"Miss Keith," she greeted me with a smile, "I'll be your nurse for today's Physical Exam. Please come with me,"

I nodded nervously and felt myself pulled away from Kadence. Looking back, I saw another Sailor Moon medical student waltz up to Kadence and drag her off. They'd faint at the sight of her medical records…when was the last time she had a flu shot? So the usual questions went down: are you sexually active? No. Do you have suicidal thoughts? Not anymore. Are still on Anti-Depressants then? Only rarely. What was your prescription? Prozac. Are you on any other medications? No. Anything else you need to tell me? No.

"Alright Miss Keith, your vaccines are almost up to date, all you need is the one vaccine for this exam,"

"Yep," I shrugged, dead bored from the monotonous checkup.

I casually pulled up the sleeve to my school uniform as she pulled out a long needle. As she drew it nearer to my arm I stopped her.

"Wow really?" I almost chuckled.

"Is something the matter, Miss Keith?" she asked.

"Yes actually. If I'm correct that vaccine is supposed to be administered with the patient laying down. It makes them incredibly dizzy, right?" I asked.

"O-oh u-uh!" the nurse stammered nervously, "I'm so sorry! P-please don't tell my boss ok?"

"…What?"

"It's only my first day!" she pleaded.

"Whoa there, it's fine. I was just testing you to see if you noticed really," I put my hands up in defense, "Honest mistake, my mom's corrected tons of rookies for that before,"

"Is your mother doctor?"

"Nurse. But anyways, you were about to give me a vaccine?"

I laid down on the table and felt a pinch in my arm. I felt a little woozy for a while and I'm glad I told the nurse what to do otherwise I would've fallen flat on my face! She helped me up and sent me on my way. I met Kadence out in the lobby, she had tons of band aids on her arms, probably from all the shots she had to make up for.

"How was it?" she asked.

"Meh, just had correct a nurse on vaccines," I shrugged.

"You always correct nurses, no matter where you go," Kadence rolled her eyes.

"Not my fault I know what they should be doing," I said haughtily.

Just then I noticed a crowd of fan girls, most of which I recognized from the Host Club.

"Hey, what's going on over there?" I wondered aloud.

"Idk," Kadence tried to arch her neck to see, "Wanna go check it out?"

"Ok,"

The two of us pushed through the crowd of squealing fan girls and barely made it to the front. I knew the Host Club was kinda shameless but I was NOT expecting that they'd strip! The crowd we chose was the one watching the Hitachiin twins but I saw plenty of other groups fawning over a shirtless Tamaki and Mori!

"How desperate are they…" I muttered.

"Hehehe…"

I looked over to see Kadence drooling and staring at Kaoru.

"Kadence! Stop!" I hissed, "How can you tell which one is which anyway?!"

"The one with the softer eyes," she swooned.

Yep, Kadence really had lost it on the cruise…

I just turned back to the twins who were still doing their twincest act until they noticed me. They probably didn't expect me, the girl who hated at least one of them, to be watching them like all the other fan girls. The two smirked, deciding to get a kick out of this.

"See somethin' you like?" Hikaru (I could tell by his voice) asked seductively.

I just stared at him with a blank expression, looking his shirtless body up and down. Something about it…

"You're Anorexic," I pointed at him.

"Huh!?"

An icy silence fell over the crowd of fan girls.

"What did she just say?"

"Are they really that skinny?"

"The twins don't starve themselves, right?"

"You two as scrawny as a corpse," I said bluntly.

"Yeah, maybe we should test them for eating disorders," a nurse piped up.

"Good idea. Hitachiin twins, if you would come this way please," another nurse said.

"HUH?!" the twins gaped, "But wait- we don't- what?!"

I burst into laughter at the two, yes even Kaoru was fun to torture. Then I noticed nobody was laughing along…and that the room was very quiet. I turned around to see the faces of hundreds of angry fangirls!

"You took our eyecandy from us!" one yelled.

"Yeaaaa!" the others yelled and stampeded straight for me!

"Run!" I screamed, grabbing Kadence's wrist and sprinting from the hall.

Thank God those crazy freaks were wearing poofy, big dresses, otherwise they would've caught us! We made it out of the main hall and stopped in a deserted corridor to catch our breaths.

"That was…well worth it," I said in between gasps.

"It…was…NOT!" Kadence tried to yell through breaths.

"Oh come on!" I chuckled, "They weren't actually anorexic, just skinny. I was just joking!"

"You stole eyecandy from me too…" Kadence pouted.

"I thought proper ladies from the Victorian age didn't stoop to such levels," I struck a haughty pose and spoke in a British accent.

Kadence rolled her eyes at me and headed back to class, laughing at my act, "Fuck you, Rowan,"

* * *

**Rowan: Let's get out of here, I'm so done with these physical exams.**

**Kadence: Yeah, I got like five shots!**

**Rowan: Next time in Chapter 19, we learn more about Kadence, in Anger Management!**

**Sirana: I'm falling behind on chapters T.T**


	19. Anger Management

**SO sorry for the inactivity. I've been on vacation and updates will still be slow or nonexistent.**

* * *

"Bahahaha! We have no lives!" Kadence laughed in hysterics.

"Click on the next one! Do the next one!" I laughed out.

Kadence clicked on the next "Whose Line is it Anyway?" video you Youtube then laid back down on the bed with me.

"How many episodes have we watched so far?" I asked.

"Who cares," Kadence giggled.

"Miss Keith, Miss Steen," a voice came from the other side of the door, "May I come in?"

"Sure," I called.

A maid stepped into our room gingerly with an envelope in her hand.

"Oooh, mail," Kadence piped up, "Gimmie!"

The maid handed Kadence the letter and quickly left the room. We both sat up as Kadence shred the letter open. After ripping the manila envelope into eight pieces she pulled out a folded piece of paper. She unfolded it and…roses, sparkles, kawaii stuff, and overly fancy font were ALL over it!

**You are invited to The Ouran High School Host Club's Spring Ball.**

**As our esteemed guests, we encourage you to attend this event where you will be able to dance with any host of your choice and enjoy other festivities.**

"I think I'm going to puke," I muttered at all the fancy writing and flowery borders.

Kadence was already reading over the detail of the date and time it would be on, "Omg! We should totally go!"

Of course Kadence would want to go to an event like this, it was right out of _Pride and Prejudice_. I on the other hand hated getting into dresses, wearing makeup, trying to look nice for others, and dancing uuuugh the DANCING! God, no!

"Knock yourself out," I sighed, going to unpause the Youtube video.

Kadence grabbed my hand and looked at me with beaming eyes, "Please come? Pleeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaseeeeeeeeeeee?"

"No, I don't wanna go to a silly party," I disagreed, snatching my hand away, "You can go,"

"But I need you there!" Kadence looked at me with puppy eyes.

I looked up at her and knew she would never leave me alone (disregarding the date swap). I sighed and shrugged my shoulders.

"Fine…"

"Yaaaay!"

We got Aunt Cindy's servants to teach us how to dance and one literally said to my face that I wasn't very good at it. Good, I didn't want to be a master of something so girly. Kadence caught on quickly, probably pulling experience from all the ballroom scenes she read about in her books. As for the dresses, Kadence stayed up all night every night browsing the internet for the perfect dress. You have no idea how weird it was to look over at her and rather her be looking at Sherlock gifs, was scrolling through Anthropologie. But I guess, she was showing her true colors. Since we came to Japan, it only made me miserable but it really helped her! She was discovering more about herself and letting it show rather than suppressing it in the fear of being beaten up for it! That was about the only good thing that came out of our trip. I was incredibly reluctant to any dress shopping so Kadence picked out a few ones for me from different shopping websites and made me look through all of them. Aunt Cindy paid for our dresses and Kadence got a knee-length white dress with no sleeves and white sandals with a slight heel. She finally pushed me into buying an emerald colored dress that was barely above the knee and had spaghetti straps going around my neck. I also got cream colored flats to go with it.

The part where I came in was makeup control. I knew very little about it so Kadence and I had to go off Youtube tutorials again but I had to restrain Kadence from overdosing on the emo mascara like she always did.

"Call me if you girls need me and just remember, the limo can take you home whenever you want," Aunt Cindy reminded us as we headed for the door.

"Sure thing, Aunty!" I called as we walked out the door and into the still night.

We got into the limo, lit up on the inside with neon lights as always. Kadence normally would've gone for the mini fridge for a shot glass of red wine, but she was wearing a white dress and she didn't want to show up to the ball looking like a vampire. I sat with my phone on mirror mode, admiring myself. I guess it wasn't such a bad idea after all, I had never felt so beautiful in my life! Maybe that evening wouldn't be so bad after all.

The first thing we did when we got there was stuff our faces. Heck, even Kadence got distracted by the fancy dessert table and she had her heart set on finding Kaoru first! Everything was so tasty and rich and Kadence had to drag me away from the table after a while! After that, Kadence split up with me to go find Kaoru. It was weird, in any social situations, we'd stick together, but ever since she met Kaoru, she started to become more confident with herself!

_Take good care of her Kaoru… _I thought.

"Ro-chan!" I heard a child-like voice beam.

"Hm?" I looked down to see Honey tugging on my arm.

"Come on! Let's dance!" he chimed with his adorable smile.

"Okay," I smiled back.

I was worried about my first time applying formal dancing skills but, apparently, I didn't need them to dance with Honey! And I don't blame him, if I was shorter than everyone else, I wouldn't bother dancing formally either, that'd be too hard! So instead I spun him around and sometimes I'd let him stand on my feet while I danced. When the song ended, he pranced off to find Mori and I was left by myself again.

_I wonder how Kadence is doing._

**Kadence POV**

It wasn't long after I left Rowan that I find Kaoru. As usual, he was attached at the hip to his twin, watching everyone dance.

"H-hey Kaoru!" I called, making him look over at me.

His eyes lit up at the sight of me and I couldn't help but notice Hikaru's did too but he looked away quickly.

"Hi Kadence," Kaoru grinned, "Would you like to dance?"

_YESYESYESYESYESYESYES!_

"That would be wonderful," I suppressed squees of joy as I took his hand.

As the tune of the last song faded, we walked on to the dance floor and got into position. His arm wrapped around my waist as I placed my hand on his shoulder and the music started. I tried to remember everything I learned in the past week as I mirrored his movements. I was so happy I just wanted to die! The music, the atmosphere, my partner, everything reminded me of one of my books! All my life I wanted to jump into Jane Austen book but lately, whenever I was with Kaoru, I felt like I already had. When the music ended we froze in time for a moment, both of us still caught up in rapture, gazing into each other's souls. Then Kaoru, blinked, his face heating up a bit, realizing most of the dancers had left the floor.

"Uh, thanks," he mumbled with a shy smile.

"Yeah, thanks," I breathed, still in a state of bliss.

He left to go back to his brother and I went in the opposite direction, maybe to find Rowan. As I searched through the sea of pretty girls, I felt a tap on my shoulder.

"Hey Rowa…" I was cut short when I realized it wasn't Rowan.

They were three girls, I didn't know them but I was assuming they were in my class or something. The one at the front was blonde and the two behind her had dark brown hair. Something about the one at the head warned me that she was much like the other girls at my school in California. All I had to do was treat them like I did at home: with tolerance and a passive mood.

"Oh, hey," I said casually.

"You sure like Kaoru a lot, huh?" the blonde one asked in a challenging voice.

Now I knew she was like the girls back home! I had to get away before I got too angry.

"Sure," I shrugged, turning away and trying to walk off.

"You know he doesn't _actually _like you," the girl scoffed.

I stopped dead in my tracks, feeling the anger boil up in my system. My therapist taught me to deal with bullying and how to walk away from it, but never did she teach me how to walk away from one who was challenging your relationship!

_Just ignore her. _I thought. _Remember the steps, deep breaths, count to ten, walk away, and find a friend…_

I took in a breath and began counting.

_1…2…_

"He's only paying attention to you because he feels sorry for you," the blonde continued to sass.

I clenched my fists. _3…4…_

"But I can't blame him, who wouldn't pity a commoner whose family doesn't even care about her!" she laughed cruelly.

I gritted my teeth together. _5…6…_

"Hey, emo girl!" the blonde demanded my attention, "Are you even still alive?"

_7…8…Just don't look at them…it'll only make you angrier…_

"Oh what now?" she snarled, "Are you going to cry like the emo freak you are?"

_9…9…9…_

My whole body was clenched up, trying to keep myself from throwing myself on her and trying to kill her! I had to get out of the situation, it would only make it worse if I stayed.

_9…10!_

I broke into a fast walk, heading straight for the door, already feeling the tears flow. Damn it! I had held it together for years, not having a single moment where I came remotely close to having an outburst but nope! Those bitches just had to come along and try my patience! I stormed from the school, into the dark night, and into our limo, where wine, DVDs, and a mini fridge was waiting. I stuck in the "Lost in Austen" movie, locked the car doors, pulled out cookie dough ice cream from the fridge, and curled up in a ball. I stayed there, slowly relaxing the tension in my muscles, trying to let the anger go.

As for the anger therapy thing, how do you think Rowan and I met? I always had anger management issues since I was little, mainly because I was so angry that my mom left, my dad was always drunk, and my brother never cared. I constantly had outbursts and I became well known as the emo girl you didn't want to mess with! Most of my memories from elementary school were fights I had on the playground and in the hallways. The elementary school was attached to the high school so there were equal amount of fucks given about fights. It'd usually take ten minutes for a teacher to notice and break it up. I met Rowan in eighth grade, after I gave a kid two black eyes. My therapist suggested I have at least one friend, someone to talk to so my feelings weren't bottled up all the time. So she introduced me to one of the other patients at the office: Rowan. Rowan was there for depression/ suicidal thoughts and was already on Prozac (anti-depressant for teens). We became instant best friends, I pulled her out of depression ruts and she helped calm me down. Next thing we knew, we were in high school, Rowan never feeling depressed again and me never caring what others thought about me.

I mean come on people, did you honestly believe Rowan and I went through life, hiding from bullies and ignoring them without any repercussions?


	20. I Give in

**Get ready for a super OMG chapter! I hope you like it! Btw, this update means I'm back from vacation so I'm writing on my main stories again. While I was on my break, I got the chance to work on a Vocaloid fic...but Idk when that's going to come out if ever (but I'm really happy with it so maybe some day!)**

**Oh and if you want to stay updated on my current situation, maybe to see if I'm going on another vacation or trip or anything that would delay work, check out my DeviantArt which you can find a link to on my profile.**

**Shout out to aaa17 and a guest for their first time reviews on this fic! Thank you all for your support!**

* * *

After Honey, I danced with Haruhi. He almost danced like a girl but I shrugged it off as him just being more in touch with his feminine side. After that, I pigged out a little more on the party food and decided to look for Kadence. I checked everywhere but couldn't find her! The last place I looked was the balcony overlooking the courtyard which had been much more crowded before. Now, there was hardly anyone out there and I could finally relax a bit. Still no Kadence though.

"Hey, Rowan,"

I turned to see Hikaru, standing in the doorway of the balcony.

"Oh…hey Hikaru," I greeted reluctantly.

"How did you know it was me?" he asked, his eyes widening.

"I know that sly look anywhere," I mused, thinking of Urakih's resemblance to Hikaru.

I swear, if Hikaru had a tail, he'd be flicking it in irritation like Urakih did. And if I were Kazuli, I'd have my ears flattened at the sight of my love hate partner.

"What do you mean sly?" Hikaru asked as he walked up next to me.

"Easy, your brother is much nicer while you're slyer," I explained, trying to find the right word "It's just that…_reptilian _air about you,"

"Right back at you, you snarl like a wolf," he retorted casually.

We stared at each other with a dead look in our eyes, knowing very well what we were referencing.

"Let's not go there," I said quickly.

"Yeah," he agreed.

"So why did you come out here anyway?" I asked, switching topics.

Hikaru suddenly looked uncomfortable and scratched the back of his head.

"Uuuh…well," he mumbled, "I just wanted some fresh air,"

I raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"Okay…I was hoping I could trick you into thinking I was Kaoru," he admitted stiffly.

"Well you flopped pretty epically," I laughed.

As I laughed at him, he looked away with a discreet bit of red forming on his cheeks.

"Oh yeah, and another thing that sets you apart from your brother," I giggled, loving any chance I had to pick on him, "He's way better with girls. You should see the way Kadence talks about him!"

Hikaru shot me a cold glance at my friend's name. He still wasn't over letting her go.

"Oh come on," Hikaru scoffed, "Kaoru hasn't even kissed a girl before…I mean, like an actual one,"

_There was his date with Haruhi but that doesn't count, it was just on the cheek. _Hikaru thought, feeling a little jealous of his younger twin.

"Oh what? And _you _have," I teased, crossing my arms.

"No, but I'd certainly be perfectly capable of it," Hikaru shot back.

"That doesn't even make any sense," I smirked.

"Yes it does! I get pretty close to Kaoru when I have to do our act in the host club. It's probably pretty much the same for girls," he said.

I only, rolled my eyes, leaning on the edge of the balcony, not buying it for a second.

"Seriously!" he tried to sell the idea to me, "I've memorized the procedure from doing the twincest act over and over!"

I kept smirking still not believing it. I was an idiot.

"It's pretty simple," he sighed, "First, you just have to make eye contact,"

My blue eyes shot over at him but they couldn't seem to move away.

_Move ya stupid eyes!_ I thought but I just kept staring away with a sense of curiosity, almost as if I was intrigued by the notion that he'd actually do it.

"Then move in closer without your victim noticing," he continued.

_When did he get so close?!_ I thought, panicked, as he was inches from my face.

"Physical contact," he said in almost a whisper as he ran his hand through my ginger hair.

_ MOVE!_ My mind screamed in desperation.

"Then…" I could barely hear him say before it happened.

_What the hell I don't even._ I thought in utter shock.

I don't know what someone would've thought if they walked in us. They'd probably be like 'wait, weren't you two enemies? Well you must be a couple now because you're KISSING!' I was actually starting to enjoy it juuuuuust a bit, beginning to place my hand on his shoulder…until I pulled away with a sick look on my face. I keeled over the side of the balcony and hurled! Too much party food. Why did it have to happen then!? Well I guess if it didn't, the kiss would've gone one longer and made our lives even more awkward.

"Wow. Was it that bad?" Hikaru asked rolling his eyes.

"N-no! It wasn't that! I just ate a lot of…" I stuttered, recovering from my incident

"Oh, so you did enjoy it," he smirked in his usual 'little devil' way.

It was his turn to make me squirm.

"I…I did not!" I huffed, looking the other way.

But I couldn't help but feel my face heat up to a million degrees and my heart beat fourteen times faster!

_Maybe…it's time I gave in._ I though cautiously as I slowly glanced back to him. _I've been denying it long enough. The fact still remains that I loved him but after I learned who he really was, I denied my feelings for him. Maybe it's time I stop denying…_

Hikaru noticed my precarious eyes staring over at him.

"What? You want more?" he continued to tease.

"No!" I said quickly, turning away again.

_Why did I take that seriously? That was a joke not an invitation! I guess I can see where Kadence was coming from when she gave into Kaoru. She started acting like a lovesick puppy…and now, I feel that way too._

"I-I'm going to go find Kadence," I stammered and quickly walked back inside.

I have no idea what Hikaru was thinking, I didn't even look up to see his face as I left. It was disgusting what he was doing to me, turning me into a lovesick puppy, but I guess I'd have to drop all those denying feelings and give in. I was ready to accept him now. But was he ready to accept me?

**Hikaru POV**

_What did I do to her? Okay, I know I kissed her but what did that do to her?! _I thought, completely perplexed. _The Rowan I know would step on my foot and make fun of me for being a whore or something. Why is she acting like…like…she liked me? Besides it's not like I like her back. I didn't actually even mean to kiss her, I only wanted to show that I could get close enough to do it if I wanted to…but then it just happened._

I felt my cheeks heat up a little as I watched her shove her way through the crowd.

_Ugh! No you don't like her anymore! She's not Kaz anymore! If she's going to try to get close to me again, then I'll just have to try everything to push her away, to show her that I haven't given in!_

* * *

**Rowan: Now I don't know how to feel about Hikaru anymore...**

**Kadence: That's the feeling of love, sistah!**

**Rowan: -flick-**

**Kadence: Ow!**

**Rowan: That's the feeling of pain, sistah! Next time in Chapter 21, we get to see a flash back!**

**Twins: Boo!**

**Sirana: Shut up you pests!**


	21. A Look in the Past

**I'm so glad you all enjoyed the last chapter! I never knew I'd be able to make so many people fangirl!**

**Shout out to Extended Experience, Jazira, CRAZYisprayingforMiannaNEKO, A Willowy Foot, ZeroDays, and MarshallAlexandraAnderson for your first time reviews! I enjoyed reading everyone's fangirl reviews!**

**THIS WHOLE CHAPTER IS A FLASHBACK**

* * *

_Nothing had changed since sixth grade._ I thought that moving into the seventh grade would make everyone slightly more mature…but that was wishful thinking. I was still getting pushed around in the halls, getting my books dumped, and being called "freckle face" and/or "ginge" by all the same kids.

"At least I've got you," I sighed, walking down the hall with my math and English books in my arms.

"And at least I've got you," Winston said right back.

"Oh come on," I groaned, "You've got plenty of friends in the Chess Club,"

"Did you…"

"Yes! I took my pills this morning, okay?" I snapped at him.

Winston bit his lip and looked at his feet.

"Sorry," I mumbled, "I just thought things would be different,"

"Heh," Winston laughed bitterly, "Nothing ever changes,"

"Rowy!" a voice called from down the hall.

"Walk faster," I hissed to Winston.

We both picked up the pace, trying not to make any eye contact with anyone. Suddenly, I felt a hand grab my shoulder and spin me around to meet one of the many bullies I ran from every day. Was PE cancelled or something? Or were they skipping because they usually didn't bug me at this time of the day?

"There you are lil' Rowy!" the girl chimed.

Everybody knew Katy, or Kat, the queen of the seventh grade class. She moved through boyfriends like it was nobody's business, set all the trends, and was my greatest fear. Behind her stood her seven friends who were starting to surround me, and right beside her was her boyfriend, Daemon.

"Hi Kat…" I muttered, trying to look for a way out of the ring of girls.

"So how's your first week of being a sevy (seventh grader), treating you?" she asked with her sassy tone.

"It's great," I said stiffly then muttered under my breath, "It would be if you would shove off,"

Kat dropped her innocent sassy act, "What was that?"

I pursed my lips, wishing I had kept it to a minimum.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" she asked again, putting her face in mine.

"Nothing…" I tried to say.

"Say it again," she ordered.

"No…"

"Say it again!" she stomped her high heel on the floor.

I averted my eyes, hoping if I looked away long enough, she'd poof away.

"She said to say it again," Daemon stepped into the fight.

I felt a hot sweat go through me. Now Daemon was involved, shit just got scary. Winston broke his way through the ring of girls and stood beside me.

"She doesn't need to. Let's go Rowan," he said, a sweat noticeable on his face too.

Daemon gave Winston a good shove to the side.

"I wasn't talking to you, nerd," he growled then turned back to me, "Well go on, say it again,"

If I said it, he'd hit me. If I didn't, he'd hit me. And either way, Kat would beat me up later for it.

"Aw come on, Rowy," he smirked, grabbing my cheeks with one hand and mushing them together, making me look like a fish, "Don't be like that,"

"Hey!" one of the girls in the circle was tossed firmly into one of the lockers by some unknown force, leaving an opening in the ring.

A girl with black hair, a Skrillex haircut, bulky hipster glasses, combat boots, fake black pearl earrings, tons of mascara, skull headphones, a Skrillex T-shirt, ripped jeans, and fishnet gloves stepped into the circle with me. All the other girls didn't need to be thrown against a locker, they all scattered at the sight of her. Daemon, quickly let go of my face while Kat hid behind him.

"Is that Crazy Kadence?" one of the bystanders whispered.

Kadence was well known for being just that: crazy. She snapped at almost anything, got into plenty of fights, and was feared by many (even a few of the teachers). That's why she had no friends, not even the gangster kids could get close to her, she'd snap at them too!

"What do you think you're doing?" she asked Daemon, her brown eyes burning into his.

"U-uh, we were j-just talking to Rowy," he said quickly, failing at trying to hide his fear.

Kadence scrunched up her face at him, looking him over from head to toe. Kids were already clearing out of the halls at the sight of her.

"BOO!" she yelled, making everyone, including Daemon, jump back.

"W-what w-was that?" Daemon asked, still trying to look cool.

"Oh, I was _just _scaring you like you were _just _talking to the girl," she snarled, "And now I'm _just_ gonna let you have it!"

Kadence slammed her boot into Daemon's stomach, knocking him to the ground, curled up in a ball. She ran up to his body and continued kicking him in the stomach like a soccer ball, rage written all over her face.

"Stop it! Stop it!" Kat cried, pounding her fists onto Kadence's back.

Kadence turned her attention to Katy and gave her a good bitch slap across the face! Silence filled the halls as tears filled Kat's eyes.

"You're going to pay for this!" she shrieked as she helped up her limping boyfriend.

"Oh yeah?" Kadence yelled back, "Who are you gonna tell? The school? One, they don't care and two, even if they did tell my dad, HE'S TOO DRUNK TO HEAR!"

Kat just burst into more tears and ran down the hall with Daemon. I could feel myself shaking in terror, feeling the pure anger coming from Crazy Kadence, I had never been this close to her before! She turned to Winston and I, making us jump back.

"I've seen you before," Kadence squinted her eyes at me.

"U-u-uh…yeah…" I stuttered, backing as far as I could into Winston.

"You're one of the patients in the therapy office, right?" Crazy Kadence asked.

"Y-yeah…you go there too…right?" I asked timidly.

"Yep," Crazy Kadence sighed, "So what are you in for?"

"D-depression…" I squeaked.

"Anger management," she said, pointing to herself.

"Why did you help me?"

"Hey, we both have our physiological struggles," she shrugged, "I couldn't let someone like me get ragged on,"

Our therapists decided to pair us up for sessions, saying that we complimented each other nicely. Kadence taught me to stand up for myself and be a bit forceful about things I wanted. And I taught her to chill and think before she knocked somebody's skull in. I learned all her anger came from the lack of family and care she had at home, her brother living with his girlfriend and her dad drunk and/or not at home. Eventually, Winston stopped being afraid of her and she joined our tiny group. But the softer she became, the less feared she was as well. Soon, she too became a victim of the bullying Winston and I endured but she had excelled so well in her therapy, she shrugged off every insult. She even told me about this weird obsession she had with…Jane Austen books.

* * *

**Alright so that's how Rowan and Kadence became friends!**

**Hikaru: Kadence was scary back then...**

**Rowan: Yeah so you better watch it or I'll sick her on you!**

**Hikaru: Pffft.**

**Kadence: Hey, I never signed up for this!**

**Rowan: Next time we delve back into the world of Realmz for a final showdown between Hikaru and I!**

**Hikaru: Bring it on!**

**Rowan: Tune in for Chapter 22, The Bet!**


	22. The Bet

**Shout out to iluvninjas, Guest, and ZeroDays for first time reviews!**

* * *

Both Kadence and I were exhausted from the dance and my stomach was still settling from hurling. We collapsed in bed as soon as we got home, praying we could forget everything that happened. The next day was a weekend so we could sleep in as usual but I woke up at 9 am to a glow on the other side of the bed.

"Kadence," I whispered sleepily.

"Mm?" Kadence grunted, looking over from her phone.

"What are you doing?" I asked quietly.

"I can't get back to sleep," she sighed, looking back to her phone.

There was a stiff silence as we laid there, both awake, both haunted by the previous night.

"So…how did it go for you last night?" I questioned nervously.

Kadence stopped tapping at her phone and looked over at me.

"It went…ok…I got to dance with Mori," she said slowly, "He was really tall though so it made things awkward…Aaaaand…I almost snapped at a group of girls…"

"Hm? You mean like…"

"Yes, like anger management issue-wise," Kadence cut me off, "I screwed up and let my anger get the best of me!"

"But, you didn't do anything rash, right?" I asked, worried she might admit to splitting somebody's lip.

"No! I counted to ten and didn't talk back to them, I just left the dance and cried in the limo the rest of the time," she explained.

"I thought your makeup looked smudged when I got back to the car," I said, "Well you did the right thing, you may have missed a lot of the party but you controlled your anger. By the way, you haven't had any problems like this in a long time, you usually shrug everything off, what did 'they' say that made you so mad?"

"There were three girls I think," Kadence scratched her head, trying to remember, "They said…"

She gripped her phone tightly, squeezing it to the point of almost cracking! I reached out and placed my hand on her shoulder like I used to and I immediately felt her muscles relax.

"That Kaoru only liked me because he felt sorry for me," she said in barely a murmur.

"That's it?!" I chuckled.

How was this different? Kadence endured much harsher insults on a daily basis. Kadence shot me a Crazy Kadence glare, telling me to take the conversation more seriously.

"I mean-why did that upset you so much?" I asked, trying to stand in for her therapist.

"Because I'm used to all the family insults and emo insults but I've never been in love before and I've never had somebody crush my heart like that. I mean, I know it's not true but something about it just made me feel so angry!" Kadence tried to explain to me, "I guess I'm just not used to people challenging my crush. So that was my experience, I wasted most of the night crying in the limo while I ate ice cream and watched 'Lost in Austen". What about you?"

I sat up, grabbing the pillow from behind me and holding it close to me, feeling my face heat up again.

"What is it?" Kadence asked, sitting up next to me, "What happened?"

"Well… I danced with Honey and Haruhi, then I went to look for you but you were in the limo but I didn't know that. Then…uuuugh!" I painstakingly explained until I groaned, "You are just going to eat this up,"

"What?" Kadence asked again eagerly.

I sighed and closed my eyes, "I kissed Hikaru,"

"Holy shit, no way!" Kadence squealed like the hopeless romantic she was.

"And then I threw up,"

"Ew…"

"I kind of ate too much…but I'm out of denial, I think I'm going to start accepting my crush on him,"

"Gross…well, at least you've finally gotten past your denial!" Kadence chirped.

"I guess but he's always so mean and I could never get him to hang out with me to bring him out of his denial anyway," I sighed.

"Meh, you can just beat him up in Realmz like you always do," she shrugged.

"Hello, we don't play Realmz anymore, too many awk memories! Besides, I've never beaten him anyway…" I stopped mid-sentence.

"What is it?"

"I never beat him in Realmz," I repeated to myself, "That's the perfect opportunity!"

"Uh…what?"

* * *

When the weekend was over and I went back to school, Hikaru did not seem happy to see me marching straight for him. He had a look on his face that seemed to say "what are you doing? Go away, wait, no, stop, stay away!" I stopped in front of him and his brother's desk and pointed a finger right between his eyes.

"I challenge you to a PvP battle in Realmz!" I shouted.

I knew he wanted to avoid me but I also knew he could never turn down a challenge. A cat like smirk grew on his face and I knew he had taken the bait, hook, line, and sinker.

"Ok," he purred, "Penalties?"

"Whoever loses has to do whatever the winner wants them to do!"

His smirk grew into a toothy one, making him look all the more menacing. Not going to lie, he was kind of creeping me out but I wouldn't let that stop me, if I won this, I could force him on another date with me. However, what I didn't know was that Hikaru wanted to win so he could use his prize to push me away and make sure I'd be too wounded to try and go back to him. We both set up our laptops in the Host Club room after school (hosting was cancelled for a meeting that was delayed for our match). We sat at the large dining table, across from each other, looking up from our screens with our war faces.

"Hey, what's going on here?" Tamaki asked.

"Oh hey, Boss," Kaoru said who was sitting next to his twin.

"Rowan and Hikaru are just having a quick match, they'll be over soon," Kadence explained who was sitting next to me.

"They better be, we have a meeting to get to," Kyoya growled.

"You make the game session," I told Hikaru.

Then my Realmz made a notification noise and when I opened it, a pop up box read, 'Urakih has invited you to a 1v1 quick match, accept?' I clicked yes, straightening up, and stretching my fingers out. This was going to be the battle of my life and I had to be ready. It only took a few seconds for our laptops to connect and we were online! Urakih appeared on the other side of the arena, blood thirst in his eyes. In slow motion, I watched the count down.

5…

4…

3…

2…

1…

GO!

I hit 'w' on my keyboard twice to launch myself at him, daggers at the ready.

The lizard was quick to react as he let loose a magic arrow straight for me.

_Bam! _I hit the 'd' button to jump out of the way.

I continued my run towards my opponent. The trick with archers was to dodge their moves until you were in close combat with them, then they were vulnerable. Urakih scowled at his miss and released a wave of arrows at me only for me to slide under the wave.

"Haha!" I laughed aloud as I continued to mash more buttons for dodging.

I heard Hikaru grimace from the other side of the table. I was so close to face-to-face fighting! One more dodge…

I dug my dagger into his face, chipping off some of his HP but he retaliated with an arrow to my snout however, it was only a retaliation so it didn't do as much as it normally would (thank God!) I continue hacking and slashing as him and I found it funny at his inability to break my combos.

By now, my laptop was making those beeping noises that you hear when it wants you to stop mashing the key board! And I can't blame it! I was mashing away at the hotkeys harder than I ever had before!

_Sorry laptop, but my pride is at stake! _I thought as I hit three more hotkeys at the same time.

WHACK! Urakih surprised me with a hit from the tail! His maroon tail had hit me straight in the head, knocking me off my feet!

"Come on, come ON!" I wailed as I furiously clicked to get Kazuli on her paws again. Hikaru was now chuckling to himself as he tapped away on his own hotkeys.

I tried to get up but he kept shooting stunning moves at me, keeping me on the ground as my HP dropped by the second. WHACK! His tail hit me. THUNK! A paralyzing shot to the leg. THUNKTHUNKTHUNK! A folly of arrows hit me head on. Finally, I dug my daggers into the ground and staggered to my feet. My eyes half blinded by blood, I threw my black daggers at Urakih but he jumped above them at the last second.

"Damn," I spat as I caught my daggers.

"Come on, you've got this!" Kadence whispered to me.

"Graaah!" I snarled as lunged at an astonishing speed and sliced straight through him!

The lizard humanoid stumbled back and I took the opportunity to hack at him some more. By the third hit, he blocked and head butted me, making my vision blur. Then I felt more arrows being shot into me!

"Shit…" I mumbled, sweat dripping off my forehead, "My HP is 700/80,000!"

Urakih's HP was no better but it was still 1,000 better at 1,700/80,000.

My vision still filled with stars, I blindly stabbed my daggers forward and felt it dig into something. I dropped my left dagger and grabbed the thing my right had hit. Leaping on my victim, I pinned him and resorted to lvl. 10 techniques: tooth and claw. I scratched mercilessly at his face then bit down on his neck with my fangs. In between a combo, his tail wrapped around my neck and threw me off him! That tail was stronger than it looked because it sent me straight into the wall on the other side of the arena!

_Shoot! _I thought. _I dropped my left dagger all the way back there. Now I only have one left. Plus my HP is dangerously low. One more hit and I'm done for!_

"Get ready to do my bidding," Hikaru laughed, the prize in his eyes.

Managing to get back into fighting stance, I noticed another crucial flaw in my position! He had flung me to the other end of the arena so he had all the archery space he needed! I had to start all over and get back to him for close combat! My heart giving out on me, I took off for Urakih, only one dagger left. If could just get to him without a single scratch and deliver a perfect combo, he'd be out! An exploding arrow whizzed past me, making me jump.

_Easier said than done. _I thought, my hands beginning to cramp.

As I neared Urakih, I looked up and noticed a nervous expression on Hikaru's face. He knew once I got to him he'd be done for and it felt so good to know we'd be on a date soon!

My paws left the ground, my steampunk wings speeding me towards him. I dodged another spray of arrows and readied my daggers for the final blow. My arms raised, my daggers just above his head, my teeth bared, and my eyes bulging from suspense. Urakih put his bow up in defence and- CALAMITY! Fire sprayed from his reptilian mouth, knocking me back- KO'd.

I froze in my seat, the stat screen popping up, showing the final blow that killed me and the durability that my armor lost. Kadence was also frozen. She didn't know much about Realmz but what she did know was that I was damn good and for anybody to beat me was unheard of for her.

"YES!" the twins cheered, high-fiving each other.

I felt Kadence's hand on my shoulder but we still stared at the stat screen, dumbstruck. We thought for sure I'd win!

"So, you said the loser had to do _anything _the winner wanted them to do?" Hikaru asked mischievously.

I slowly looked up into his hazel eyes, glimmering with an evil scheme.

"You'll be my servant until the end of the semester, aka: until you go back to America,"

_Yep. Definitely KO'd._

* * *

**Sirana: the fight scene was originally going to be a match they had on the cruise so I just moved it.**

**Hikaru: You're so lazy.**

**Sirana: Sush! It's called recycling!**

**Rowan: Next time in Chapter 23, And so it Begins...**

**Kadence: DundunDUUUUN**


	23. And so it Begins

**So sorry updates have been so slow but Dragon Academy just started back up and I've been low on inspiration. Shout out to Cedicrade, ZeroDays, leabridgemarik, and Winterbee2001 for their first time reviews! Also, I can't find the page divider button...either that or just got rid of it...**

I thought for sure I could beat him, but looks like I was a bit too cocky. Kadence told me to use the deal as a way to get close to him but how could I when the first day of the new deal went as followed…

I had just stepped foot into the marble halls of Ouran when a bag was flung right at my chest!

"Gah!" I squeaked, barely catching it in time.

I looked up to see the twin devils (even Kaoru looking amused), smirking away at me.

"Carry that for me, will you?" Hikaru asked rhetorically.

I took in a deep breath, holding back a storm of insults, and simply nodded. If I was going to get him to like me, I'd have to impress him on how well I could follow through with the deal.

"Kaoru!" Kadence chimed and ran up to her favorite twin, grabbing him by the hands and spinning him around.

The two laughed with each other and I couldn't help but notice a little left over jealousy in Hikaru's eyes. When he looked back to me though, he smiled again, remembering his new slave.

"Let's go," he said, starting down the hall.

"Sure…" I muttered.

"Oh and that's another thing," Hikaru said as he walked down the hall, "I want you to call me Hitachiin-sama from now on,"

"What? Why?" I asked, confused at the honorific.

"Because I said so," he smirked, "And it's an ending used to address a person of higher status. In your case: me,"

I felt an insult crawling up my throat but I swallowed it down and went, "Yes…H-Hitachiin-sama,"

_All I have to do is to get him out of his denial…I think I can do that like this…_

"Better," he sneered.

~~~time skip (I can't find the page divider button D:) ~~

Class was about the only time I got any peace from my "master", but I didn't pay much attention (busy with Lorde dubstep remixes) in the periods before lunch anyway because they were all science, math, and physics. Boring! On the way down to the refectory, I still carried Hikaru's bag but he was up a ways, talking with his twin. Kadence took the opportunity to talk to me about my predicament.

"Are you hanging in there?" she asked, adjusting her bulky hipster glasses.

"I can manage," I sighed, "But I've been thinking, I think I can use this to my advantage!"

"What? The bag? I guess you could smack him with it…"

"No, baka!" I laughed, "If I just do whatever he says and go beyond his expectations, maybe I can impress him and then…"

"And then he comes to realize what a great person you are and comes out of his denial!" Kadence filled in the words like the ending to a romance book.

"You read too much Charlotte Bronte," I rolled my eyes playfully.

"That's what makes me an expert!" she cheered.

Surprisingly, Hikaru let me eat lunch in peace but made me sit next to him and go get anything he wanted. But I gotta say, for a guy I called skinny, he eats A LOT of chocolate! He sent me to the desert table three times, each time to get a new form of chocolate! Oh well, I binge drink coffee at midnight on weekends so I guess I have no room to judge. We got back early to class and I left Hikaru's bag there and went to use the bathroom. Easy right? Well I guess the journey to the ladies room was going to be a bit harder. I could tell this the moment I saw a herd of girls blocking my way in the hallway. The one at the head was blonde and the two behind her had dark brown hair (AN: same girls that picked on Kadence) and reminded me so much of Kat! I tried my usual approach to people like them: ignore them. When I tried to walk past them, one of the brunettes shot an arm out in front of me to stop me.

"Can I get through?" I asked monotonously.

"Hey now, I just want to chat," the blonde one cooed, stepping in front of me.

I only gave her a dead look.

"I'm Megumi and this is Naoki and Toshiko," she introduced herself and her lemmings with an overload of confidence.

"Rowan," was all I said as my introduction.

"Oh, we know," Megumi rolled her eyes, "_Every _girl knows you,"

My unreadable face suddenly weakened and showed signs of shock. Up until now I thought I was invisible! How had I become as big as this girl said!?

"That's right," she smirked seeing my surprise, "Ever since you became Hikaru's servant, every girl in school has heard your name. And they are not happy,"

"Ok," was all I said.

"We'd give anything to serve Hikaru, he's one of the most desired boys in the school!" Megumi shot, "And you, an American tourist, has stolen that honor from us! From us! The girls who've grown up with him and spent our whole lives trying to get that position,"

I couldn't help but giggle a little at this. How pathetic were these girls?! They were as hopeless as the ones back home! They worked their whole _lives _to be a groveling servant?! What?!

"What's so funny?" her eyes narrowed.

"N-nothing," I giggled.

Megumi brushed it off then jabbed her well-manicured nail into my chest.

"So just watch out, the girls of Ouran are out to run you out of this school!" she growled.

I stopped my giggling. Sure I was bullied at home but no one tried to run me out of school. In fact they wouldn't know what to do with themselves once their favorite prey left! But this…this did not look good.

"Bye, Rowan," Megumi smirked as she left me, her lemmings following after.

I stayed as still as a statue even after she had left. I can never get any peace…

~~Time skip~~

I managed to stay focused in History because it was a subject I thought was going to be useful in my future life. Buuuuut that's a bit of an over statement, I did start mindlessly staring at Hikaru towards the end of the lesson. Whoops. Luckily he was focused too and didn't notice me at all. I tuned back into the lesson just in time to hear we'd have an essay due next week over two chapters. Meh, I was pretty good at essays. Better that freaking numbers! The rest of the classes went smoothly with the occasional break for glancing at Urakih…er…Hikaru…oh what's the difference! When I got up to leave and join Kadence in the hall, I heard my "master" stop me.

"One more thing, Rowan," he yawned, feigning boredom.

"Yes…Hitachiin-sama?" I asked politely.

"As my slave, you get to write all my essays," he put it simply.

I dropped my bag on the floor. I wanted to impress him and win him over but was I willing to go THIS far for him to love me?! Taking on extra school work! No, I couldn't possibly love him enough to…

"Of course, Hitachiin-sama," I sighed in surrender.

"Oh and they better be above a B-, okay?" he added on, "Because I will have consequences if it isn't,"

"U-understood…" I gulped uneasily.

I didn't want to hear the details of the consequences but he just had to intimidate me!

"I'll start hacking your Realmz account, slowly taking everything from your account the more essays you fail," he purred as he put his feet up on his desk, "I slipped your laptop a hard drive with the right codes during our last battle,"

_No way, total bluff. He's bluffing, there's no way he's telling the truth! Yes, I'm sure he's just trying to scare me._

"Yes, Hitachiin-sama," I said plainly, going along with his bluff.

I left, joining Kadence who gave a flirty farewell to Kaoru and skipped off down the hall with me. Almost as soon as we got in the limo, she wanted to hear all about my first day in service to Hikaru.

"Well I think the 'impress him' technique might work. He told me to do his essays for him…"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Kadence interrupted me, "He's making you do _what_?!"

"Just write his essays, I'm sure I can get them done," I shrugged.

"Rowan, school keeps you busy as is, are you sure you're up for it?" Kadence asked with concern in her brown eyes.

"I think so but I think I can impress him even more if I go beyond his expectations and get him really good grades!" I explained, "Then he'll notice me and get over his denial!"

"Well…" Kadence mumbled, "Okay but just let me know if you want out of the deal, I'll get help,"

"I got this okay?" I reassured her, "By the way, he's starting up with threats too,"

"W-what?!"

"Calm down," I chuckled, "I can totally tell he's bluffing. He told me if I got him bad grades he'd hack my Realmz account, pretty stupid, huh?"

"Yeah," Kadence started to lighten up, "Does he even know how to do that?"

"Apparently he 'slipped' my laptop a hard drive full of 'codes' during our battle," I laughed in a mocking voice, "He thinks he's all that!"

"And to think you love him!" Kadence laughed along with me.

We were being idiots. What we didn't know was Hikaru would do anything to push me away, even if that meant being cruel. He did not want to let his walls down.

**Honey: Wow! A lot is going down now!**

**Mori: Yeah...**

**Haruhi: Hey, we haven't had many speaking parts now that I think about it!**

**Tamaki: I only said one thing in one chapter! This is not how the Host King should be treated!**

**Kadence: Cool your jets, you get to do some speaking in the next chapter...**

**Tamaki: Yes! I finally become a bigger part of this plot!**

**Kadence: Not really, you just say a couple lines.**

**Tamaki: -pouts in corner-**

**Honey: Next time, Rowan gets banned from the Host Club! Find out how in Chapter 24, Stress!**


	24. Predator and Prey

**Hello all, Dragon Academy has kept me busy but I've finally written the next chapter! Shout out to cookielover789, Parvathi, and Anonymous. And an answer for 15samcre's question (wish I could pm you the answer but you've blocked pms for some reason), Hikaru let his "walls" down for Kadence because he had a natural crush on her, just like he did with Haruhi. However he doesn't want to around Rowan because 1. they're obvious enemies and 2. it's really awkward because of their Realmz experience. Hope that helped!**

Kadence's heels clicked against the marble floors as she skipped down the hall next to me. Ever since she met Kaoru, she was always super excited to go to the Host Club, unlike the first time we heard about it. Megumi's threat still rang in my head, threatening to run me out of Ouran. I hadn't told Kadence, I didn't want them to target her as well. Despite her threats, I had nothing else to worry about unless you count an extra essay and silly bluffs every now and then something to worry about. Together, we opened the door to the 3rd music room but to our surprise, there was no blinding light or bombardment of rose petals! In fact, it looked like everything already started! All the girls sat with their favorite hosts and by the looks of the well eaten sweets, we were really late.

"Huh, I thought the session was delayed today," Kadence thought aloud.

"There you are, Rowan," I heard Hikaru call in annoyance, "You're so late!"

"Wasn't today's session delayed?" I asked.

"Hm? Who told you that?" Kaoru asked, cocking his head to one side.

"Some girls this…" I began to say.

I noticed the crowd of girls at the twins' table give me an evil smirk of pleasure. Megumi really had turned every Hitachiin fan in the school on me!

"Never mind…" I sighed and started making my way toward Honey and Mori's table with Kadence by my side.

"And where do you think, you're going?" Hikaru'us snide voice made me cringe and stop in my tracks.

"G-going to sit with my requested host?" I said uneasily.

"Kaoru, don't you think slaves should always wait on their masters?" Hikaru asked his brother.

"Of course," Kaoru purred in response.

"Yes, Hitachiin-sama…" I sighed reluctantly and trudged over to their table.

I still wanted to be with Hikaru, but not during hosting hours! Their twincest act was just…disturbing. I don't care how much I loved him, I would never get over their disgusting little charade!

"You go on and sit with Honey and Mori," I told Kadence.

She wasn't comfortable with the twincest act either.

"No way," she laughed, "I'm not just going to abandon you!"

That hosting session was the worst one I had ever experienced! Megumi and all the other Hitachiin guests all smiled and looked happy enough but every time I caught one of their eyes, they shot me an ominous glance as if they had something maniacal planned for me…which they did. And of course the incest act made Kadence and I fidget awkwardly and Hikaru made me _feed _him a couple times, and not in a romantic way! The guests all fangirl squealed but I could tell they really wanted to strangle me over jealousy. Still, I toughed it out, hoping that if I just fulfilled my duty as "slave for a semester", Hikaru would realize he loved me all along. When hosting was over, Kadence and I grabbed our bags and bolted from the music room! We were so done with twincest!

"That was awful," Kadence gagged as she pulled out her phone and headphones.

"You could say that again," I nodded in agreement as I dug for my bag for my phone and headphones.

Suddenly I stopped in the middle of the quiet hall, scavenging furiously through my bag! Kadence turned to see why I stopped.

"M-my phone, m-my Axent Wear headphones!" I stammered, still digging, "I-I-I can't find them!"

Put yourself in my place. My parents didn't make the most money so having a smartphone was a big deal! My dad got me one under one condition, that I'd take care of it and only have it replaced when it got too old. I also had tons of precious photos and videos saved on there, not to mention all my dubstep music! Without that phone, what was I supposed to do in boring classes?! Pay attention!? No way! Plus, Hikaru bought me those Axent headphones! They were really expensive and were the only nice thing he gave me that weren't pixels!

"Can I help you look?" Kadence asked, walking back to me.

"Yeah," I said hurriedly, "Hold this,"

I thrust my little first aid kit into her hands.

"And these…"

I took out my mini hairbrush and a map of Ouran and handed them to her.

"This...this…and this too…"

Kadence was now holding an old Ouran brochure, random receipts, my wallet, nail clippers, tangled up ear buds that I never used, gum wrappers, and a USB drive.

"Have you found it yet?" Kadence asked me, trying to balance all my junk in her arms.

"No…no…no!" I turned my empty bad upside-down and shook it, a few pencil shavings falling out, but no headphones or phone.

"Maybe you left it back in the club room," Kadence said, helping me shove everything back in, "Want to go back and check?"

"No!" I exclaimed quickly.

I didn't want any more Hitachiin-sama moments for the day!

"I'll just ask Tamaki about it tomorrow," I yawned.

"Okay," Kadence shrugged and put on her headphones.

I've never been more jealous of Kadence's headphones. That evening, I worked until ten on my own homework and Hikaru's essay, trying my very best to make it A+ worthy! But after I finished…I couldn't follow my usual evening ritual. I couldn't check any texts my mom sent me from home about how much she missed me, I couldn't listen to Skrillex on my Axent Wear headphones and turn the kitty speakers on and off spontaneously to annoy Kadence, and I couldn't work on my holy quest to complete "Where's my Water?"! Kadence was nice enough to let me use her headphones sometimes, but they weren't the same as my Axent ones…

_I'd better find those headphones tomorrow. _I thought. _I don't know if I'll ever get a chance to get them again. They're constantly sold out and super expensive and I doubt Hikaru will want to buy me a new one any time soon…_

Tamaki let us the club room early the next morning to search for my belongings and he even helped us look too. But we left with heads hung low, not a single trace of my phone or my headphones were anywhere to be seen. I was starting to wonder if they were even lost, but maybe stolen.

"Maybe we should try retracing your steps from yesterday," Kadence suggested as we walked back to class.

"Or maybe we should ask Megumi and her lemmings where they are," I seethed.

"Megoo-who?"

"Some girl threatened to run me out of Ouran just for getting so close the Hikaru," I told her, "But I didn't think she'd actually go this far!"

"Why didn't you tell me this before?" she asked.

"Like I said, I didn't think they'd go this far!" I repeated myself, "I didn't think they'd be as bad as the bullies at our school!"

"Are they? Have they been hunting you during study?" Kadence asked worriedly.

"No," I shook my head, "But I think they're hunting me in a more cunning way…"

Kadence thought for a moment, thinking of a way to handle the situation with tolerance like she always did.

"Why don't you just wait until they give it back to you?" she suggested.

"Do you honestly think they'll just give it back to me?" I asked her skeptically.

"I guess you're right…" he sighed, "Uh…oh! We could go to an adult for help!"

"They wouldn't believe us," I dismissed the idea, "Megumi's a teacher's pet and very popular. Nobody would believe that she's victimizing me. I think they'd find the idea that the crazy American, Rowan, is victimizing _her_,"

"Alright well just give me some time," Kadence sighed, "I'll think of something,"

"Any ideas yet?" I eagerly asked for the seventh time that day.

"No!" Kadence groaned exasperatedly, "I mean yes but I don't think you'll like it!"

I'd been bugging Kadence about her promise to think of something all day because I'd do anything to get my things back! Now at lunch, she'd finally seemed to have figured something out!

"Tell me! Tell me!" I urged her.

"Okay," Kadence poked at the flan on her plate, "My suggestion is to just live without it and act like you don't even miss it. She'll get bored and give it back,"

I sat silently, blankly staring at her "genius" idea.

"Seriously?"

"See, I told you, you wouldn't like it! "she exclaimed, "It's something I'd do! But you don't have patience like I do so I knew you wouldn't agree with it!"

"Of course I don't!" I snapped back, "And even if I did, she may keep them until the end of the semester, which by then I'd be flying home and she'd have possession over my two most prized possessions!"

"Princess!" I heard Tamaki's voice.

I whipped around, in hopes he'd found my cell phone and Axent Wear but when I looked, he had Megumi by his side.

"Megumi said she found your cell phone the other day lying in club room," Tamaki explained, all the while I gave Megumi the stink eye.

"I wanted to give it back but I wasn't sure who it belonged to," Megumi feigned innocence.

_Oh yes, the smartphone with a black case, graffiti background, and dozens of Skrillex songs downloaded to it. I wonder whose it could be?! _I fumed in my head.

"But then Tamaki recognized it as yours so here you go!" Megumi chimed and held out my phone.

Carefully, I reached out and took the phone from her hands, expecting her to snatch it away again in spite.

"And my headphones?" I asked her.

"What headphones?" Megumi asked.

"You know, the Axent Wear ones, they have kitty ears. Kinda hard to miss," I rolled my eyes.

"We didn't see any of those," Tamaki said, "Are you sure you lost them at school?"

I looked at Megumi's seemingly oblivious expression then down to her white purse where I noticed a small cat ear speak poking out from the top.

"It _was_ you," I growled.

"Huh?"

"Give them back now, Megumi," I snarled.

I felt Kadence's hand on my arm, trying to keep me from doing anything too rash. I knew she wanted me to act like nothing was wrong, but how could I when Megumi was about to take off with a 118$ pair of rare headphones?!

"I-I don't…" Megumi started up some alligator tears.

"Princess, I can assure you Megumi doesn't have them," Tamaki tried to calm me down.

Without another word, I kicked off my uniform heels and bolted from my chair lunging for Megumi's purse! But she was quick and dove out of the way, sprinting for the refectory's exit.

"Give them back!" I shouted, running after her.

Again, I skip gym class so I suck at running.

"Somebody help me!" she cried, as she ran.

When I finally came close enough to her, I pounced, knocking us both to the hard marble floor with a THUMP! Her purse had slid out of both of our reaches and lay a yard away. We both scrambled for it, me trying to push her back while she continued to scream for help. Just as I was about to grab the purse and make a break for it, another hand stooped down and grabbed it! I followed the black shoes to the blue blazer to Tamaki's angered face.

_Shoot._

He said nothing to me, only walking around me and helping Megumi to her feet. She gave me a little smirk before pretending to look hurt again. The Host King handed the bag back to her and she took it with a sniffle and a sob.

"Princess Rowan, please keep your jealousy in check," he shot at me.

_J-j-jealousy!? JEALOUSY!? Is that what he HONESTLY believes?! _

My whole body shook in anger and I was covered in sweat from running in a dress and from keeping myself from strangling Tamaki. And I just might've if Kadence didn't grab me by the arm and drag me out of the refectory. Much like a mother would a child.

**Kaoru: I am so confused.**

**Rowan: How?**

**Kaoru: Well Sirana said this chapter would be called "Stress" and you would get banned from the Host Club in this one! None of that happened.**

**Rowan: Slight miscalculation. Sirana just messed up the chapter numbers...also, I get banned at the beginning of the next chapter.**

**Honey: Ro-chan! Don't go!**

**Rowan: Next time, I ACTUALLY get banned from the Host Club and it's ACTUALLY called "Stress" this time!**

**Kadence: Apparently Sirana can't count -.-**


End file.
